Parliament’s oversight machinery takes centre stage this week, with the National Assembly set to receive the 2026 Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement from Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana on Wednesday, 21 October. The statement will be delivered during a hybrid plenary sitting at 14:00 in the Good Hope Chamber, and the Minister will use the same sitting to table the Adjustments Appropriation Bill.
The MTBPS is one of the key instruments through which Parliament holds the executive to account on public finances. It sets the government’s economic policy framework, updates economic forecasts, adjusts departmental budgets and authorises emergency spending. For lawmakers, it is also the moment to assess how the executive intends to balance economic growth, service delivery and fiscal sustainability against competing demands on the public purse.
Committee scrutiny sits at the heart of that process. Parliamentary committees review the effectiveness and efficiency of departmental spending through the Budgetary Review and Recommendations Reports, which must be tabled in the National Assembly before the MTBPS reports are adopted. This mechanism gives both Parliament and the public a structured route to examine how departments have spent allocated funds.
The week’s programme reflects that oversight function in detail, with 10 committee meetings scheduled between Monday and Friday. The finance committees come first. On Monday, 19 October, the Standing Committee on Finance, the Standing Committee on Appropriations, the Select Committee on Finance and the Select Committee on Appropriations will be briefed by the Minister of Finance on the MTBPS, covering the revised fiscal framework and revenue proposals. That virtual session runs from 09:00 to 12:00.
Tuesday carries one of the heaviest workloads. The Select Committee on Education, Sciences and Creative Industries will receive a briefing from the Department of Basic Education on its annual report, budget expenditure and conditional grants expenditure in the provinces, followed by a briefing from the Auditor-General on audit findings for the department, the South African Council for Educators and Umalusi for the 2025/26 financial year. That meeting, on the virtual platform from 10:00 to 13:00, also includes consideration and adoption of draft minutes.
The Select Committee on Economic Development and Trade has two sittings on Tuesday. In the morning it will consider the tabling for ratification by Parliament of the Protocol on Digital Trade and its Annexes, a protocol to the Agreement establishing the African Continental Free Trade Area, along with the Southern African Development Community Protocol on Industry. In the afternoon, from 14:00 to 17:00, the committee will be briefed by the South African National Accreditation System, the South African Bureau of Standards, the National Metrology Institute of South Africa and the National Regulator for Compulsory Specifications on their 2026/27 Annual Performance Plans, and will consider the adoption of minutes.
Also on Tuesday morning, the Select Committee on Finance will hold public hearings on the General Laws (Anti-Money Laundering and Combating Terrorism Financing) Amendment Bill [B15 - 2026]. In parallel, the Select Committee on Public Petitions and Executive Undertakings will reconvene the SAMWU petitions and engage further with the uThukela District Municipality on implementing the recommendations of a forensic report commissioned by the MEC for Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs in KwaZulu-Natal into the challenges facing uThukela Water (Pty) Ltd.
Wednesday’s schedule is anchored by the MTBPS lock-up session, where the four finance and appropriations committees will receive the statement under embargo from 11:00 to 13:45 in M46 on the ground floor of the Marks Building. The Select Committee on Social Services will hold a closed meeting from 10:00 to 12:30, in which the Sub-Committee on the CDA recruitment process discusses guidelines for the interview process and proposed interview questions. In the evening, at 18:00, the Executive Undertakings and Petitions Committee will consider and adopt draft minutes and hear briefings on petition responses, including from residents of Qhumanco and Ncora calling on the National Assembly to intervene in imminent changes to land ownership, and a petition from 67 residents of Germiston Extension 8 asking the Assembly to investigate the provision of title deeds for their homes and related matters.
The finance committees return on Friday, 23 October, for a further briefing by the Minister of Finance on the MTBPS revised fiscal framework and revenue proposals, from 09:00 to 12:00 on the virtual platform.
Beyond this week, the National Assembly enters a two-week constituency period. Members will use the time to engage directly with communities through their constituency offices across the country. The arrangement forms part of the Seventh Parliament’s rotational approach to the parliamentary programme, which organises work into three components: committee oversight, constituency engagement and plenary sittings. The design is intended to let members concentrate fully on each core function in turn.
The full committee schedule, updated regularly, is available at https://www.parliament.gov.za/committee-schedules. Enquiries may be directed to Moloto Mothapo. The statement was issued by the Parliament of the Republic of South Africa on Sunday, 18 October 2026.