Secretary to Parliament Xolile George. Picture: Werner Beukes/African News Agency (ANA)
Secretary to Parliament Xolile George has promised that they are implementing the recommendations in the Zondo Commission report.
George said that out of the 19 recommendations that were contained in the report, Parliament had implemented 11 of them.
They are in the process of implementing the remaining eight recommendations.
But part of the work that the national legislature was doing was strengthening the work of its oversight committees.
They will beef up the committees with content advisers, legal advisers, and researchers to ensure that they are able to execute their work effectively and without any problems.
Speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula and National Council of Provinces chairperson Amos Masondo recently met with Chief Justice Raymond Zondo after he accused the national legislature of failing to implement the report.
Zondo released the report last year with a number of recommendations.
But he accused lawmakers of not following up on the report and taking action.
George said there is a lot of work that has been done to ensure that the report is implemented.
“We are pleased progress has been made, and Parliament also had an opportunity to engage with the Chief Justice to outline progress made and also areas of collaboration with various arms of state in terms of its stated commitment that it will continue to implement these recommendations and it will continue to report publicly how far it is implementing those recommendations. What we have done on the side of the administration of Parliament is to make sure we support the committees in terms of key issues,” said George.
This will include getting more staff that will provide the necessary support to the committees.
He said the work of parliament began after President Cyril Ramaphosa tabled his plan of action last October.
Parliament put processes in place to deal with the report.
The report was given to relevant committees of parliament to start the process of implementing the recommendations.
At the moment, they are strengthening the committees to ensure they do their work effectively.
siyabonga.mkhwanazi@inl.co.za
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