Cape Town - Social Development Minister Lindiwe Zulu will make an executive statement on the socio-economic impact of the Covid-19 pandemic in Parliament next Thursday.
This emerged at the meeting of the National Assembly programme committee on Thursday.
This is despite Zulu set to deliver her adjustment budget vote on Friday.
IFP chief whip Narend Singh asked what informed the need to have the statement when Zulu will be in the National Assembly for the debate on the adjustment budget vote of her department.
ANC chief whip Pemmy Majodina said the executive statement was to unpack fully the issues that were affecting communities in terms of the social relief.
She also said there has been calls to do away with food parcels and give beneficiaries R350.
Majodina said the request for the executive statement was made before the mini-plenaries for budget votes got underway.
"It is important that the entire plenary receives the executive statement," she added.
EFF MP Hlengiwe Mkhaliphi said there were so many departments that wanted to make executive statements.
Mkhaliphi also said the Department of Employment and Labour was in a crisis amid the moves by employers to retrench staff.
"We really need the minister to talk to the nation to get a sense of what is happening and how they are to deal with such situations. I know it is up to the ministers to make a request," she said, adding that MPs needed to be clarified by departments on those issues affecting their constituencies.
National Assembly Speaker Thandi Modise said Zulu's request to make an executive statement was accepted after a motivation was made.
She said in order to deal with the non-payment of UIF and businesses crashing, it gave them a whole basket of things which should be dealt with by the Social Development Department.
Modise added that the exercise would not just be about getting information but create a sense that the government has not forgotten about "me in a shack and street."
"That information is necessary so that people can see themselves in that discussion."
She said they were looking at approaching ministers in the security cluster to ask them to make executive statements because there was a lot of uneasy and discussion that Parliament should get into.
"If ministers don't approach us we might look at urging them to come and explain matters. It is our role to make sure that the public understands what we as a government is doing," Modise said.
Political Bureau