Provincial Portfolio Committee/s : Finance

Provincial Meeting Dates : 29 March 2000

Provincial NCOP meeting date : 31 March 2000

Consultation : Committee Legal Advisors, Provincial Treasurer who did a briefing on the bill

Concerns raised

The committee resolved to support the Bill with the following concerns to raise regarding it.

1. The Constitutional provision for the Division of Revenue Bill to be tabled simultaneously with the Appropriation Bill in the Assembly, makes the NCOP process ineffective since the Division of Revenue Bill is only dealt with by the NCOP after it has been passed in the NA. The committee feels that this situation should be remedied.

2. The issue of unallocated grants which the National Departments dump on the provinces towards the end of the Financial Year. This creates a problem in that the provinces cannot all of a sudden effectively expend these funds within a limited space of time and without having planned for such expenditure. It would be advisable if the provinces are advised of the conditional grants early in the financial year in order to be able to plan or even start expending such funds even before they are actually transferred to Provinces.

3. Concern must also be mentioned over the conditional grants dealing with intra - spheres of government, e.g. National Government delivering services which would have a recurrent cost against another sphere of government.

4. Mostly, the Division of Revenue Bill as presently structured, undermines the role of the Provinces, e.g. Funds not going through Provincial Budget and therefore cannot be monitored by the Provincial Parliament.

Select Committee : Finance

Select Committee Meetings Dates

Public Hearings : 10 March 2000

Deliberations : 04 April 2000

Plenary : 16 May 2000

The Provincial Standing Committee on the National Council of Provinces mandates the kwaZulu - Natal delegation to the National Council of Provinces to support the Division of Revenue Bill [ B 8 B - 2000 ] as tabled in the Select Committee on Finance and any further amendments, providing that:

1. Such amendment/s does / do not alter the essential elements of a Bill;

2. Consensus is reached on such proposed amendment/s by the

kwaZulu - Natal delegates attending the Select Committee finalising the bill and / or the plenary session of NCOP voting on the bill;

In the event of the proviso not being complied with, the proposed amendment/s must be referred to the provincial standing committee on NCOP for decision.

Mr P Powell DATE

( Chairperson: NCOP Standing Committee