When President Cyril Ramaphosa delivered the Presidency Budget Vote on Tuesday, MPs hammered home the need for dedicated oversight of the Presidency.

Listen to this article 8 min Listen to this article 8 min President Cyril Ramaphosa spoke about everything except his office's R612-million budget before the National Assembly on Tuesday. But it was the scope and scale of the Presidency, which has no parliamentary committee to account to, that drew the ire of MPs during the debate.

The uMkhonto Wesizwe (MK) party's chief whip, impeached judge John Hlophe, questioned why there had never been a portfolio committee in Parliament overseeing the Presidency. "That is a serious lacuna," he said.

"With the dissolution of the Department of Public Enterprises, state-owned companies will now fall under the Presidency, which means they will no longer be accountable to Parliament," said Hlophe.

"The President only accounts to Parliament during quarterly question and answer sessions, which are often marred by bias and lack of transparency," he continued.

ActionSA caucus leader Athol Trollip also sharply questioned the lack of parliamentary oversight of the Presidency.

"After an absence of 10 years in this House, I see that the more things change, the more things stay the same. In 2009, as the leader of the opposition, I called for a dedicated oversight committee of the Presidency. We have...