Consideration and adoption of Committee Programme and Outstanding Minutes

Meeting report

The Chair noted the low attendance at Public Works Portfolio Committee meetings and asked for more alternate members in order to ensure a quorum. It was decided that a letter would be sent to the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) to advise the party to ensure that it was represented in meetings.

Consideration and Adoption of Committee Programme
The Chair noted that the previously adopted programme had not been adhered to and that there was a need to review the programme for the remainder of the year in order to address all outstanding issues of the Department of Public Works, including the Department’s vacancy rate.

The Chair proposed an oversight visit to Gauteng in the week of 31 May to 6 June 2010, with the remaining oversight visits taking place in July and August, giving priority to KwaZulu-Natal and North West. A meeting on 25 May 2010 was suggested in order to plan these visits.

Discussion

Mr S Masango (DA) requested further deliberation on the Department of Public Works' strategic plan.

The Chairperson noted the need to revisit the implementation of the strategic plan in relation to the budget as a follow-up to the previous meeting.

Ms D Ngcengane (ANC) supported Mr Masango's request and suggested that the Committee's questions on the strategic plan could be discussed when the Committee visited Pretoria.

The Chairperson agreed that outstanding issues should be isolated and discussed with the Department in Pretoria.

Mr L Gaehler (ANC) raised the issue of non-performance by professional councils in skills development, and suggested a workshop in which councils would be called upon to report and present plans on their policy on the development of skills.

The Chairperson agreed and suggested a two or three day workshop or symposium to discuss the registration of professionals. In this workshop councils would be required to present a profile of activities and number of registered professionals, their programme of training and empowerment, and their impact on the development of the country. This workshop would need to be accommodated in the Committee’s programme.

Mr C Kekana (ANC) requested a joint meeting with the Department of Education to discuss the lack of clarity regarding accreditation by Sector Education Training Authorities (SETAs).

Ms Ngcengane proposed visiting two countries during the international visit.

Mr Kekana supported this suggestion.

The Chair said that one week was too short a time to do justice to an in-depth study of more than one country on asset registration. The researcher was asked to provide information on asset registration in of India, Canada, and Tunisia.

Members approved the programme with amendments.

Consideration and Adoption of Minutes
The Committee had two sets of minutes to consider: 2 March 2010 and 4 May 2010. Members indicated a number of typographical and grammatical errors. Corrections were noted.

Both sets of minutes were adopted with amendments.