Appropriations Portfolio Committee Report on the Adjustments Appropriations Bill: consideration; Report on the Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement (MTBPS): consideration and adoption

Meeting report

The Chairperson welcomed everyone present, and, noting a quorum was necessary for the adoption of reports, confirmed that sufficient Members were present. 

The Chairperson emphasised that both draft reports were to be finalised and adopted that day.

Second Draft report on the 2010 Medium Term Budget Policy Statement
Members perused the Committee’s second draft report on the 2010 Medium Term Budget Policy Statement (MTBPS).

Members agreed unanimously with page 1 on the introduction and the medium term spending priorities.

The Chairperson said that a change needed to be made to the decreased amount of R7.3 billion to R7 billion, in relation to the budget estimates for the 2011/11 financial year.

With regards to the heading for the Financial and Fiscal Commission (FFC), the Chairperson noted that there had been a spelling error.

The word ‘finance’ needed to be replaced with ‘financial’ (page 3, bullet 4.1).

Mr M Swart (DA) said that 'with respect to' should replace 'with respect of' (page 3, first paragraph).

The Chairperson, Mr Swart and Mr L Ramatlakane (COPE) sought clarity on whether or not to remove the sentence that began with the word 'however'.

Members queried 'downward revision is justifiable'.  

Mr Ramatlakane and Mr Swart suggested that the sentence be removed entirely.

The Chairperson agreed.

Mr Swart noted that the acronym FFC was in its plural form. He suggested that the ’s’ be deleted as well as the term ' view’ (page 3, third paragraph). He suggested that the sentence should just read ' The FFC commented that...’

The Chairperson suggested that the term ‘When’ be removed and that the sentence end with the term ‘formula’ (page 3, last paragraph).

The Chairperson suggested that the term 'allocations' be changed to 'allocation' (page 4, third bullet point).
 
Members agreed unanimously to the changes in sentence construction.

Ms B Ngcobo (ANC) noted that the monitoring of activities regarding Special Purpose Vehicles (SPVs) had not been raised by Cabinet yet (page 5).
 
The omission of the  's' in the word ‘submission’ was noted (page 6, third paragraph).
 
The Chairperson suggested that the term 'outcomes' be inserted (page 7, third paragraph, first line, after ‘education’.

The Chairperson noted that HIV had been spelled incorrectly (page 7, fourth paragraph, second sentence).

Mr Ramaklakane sought clarity on the linking of the Committee’s findings in relation to the body of the report.

Ms R Mashigo (ANC) sought clarity on the linking process in relation to the findings on the Financial and Fiscal Commission (FFC) (page 9, specifically the third finding).
 
Ms Mashigo said that the Parliamentary mandate was to consider the FFC's recommendations. She added that if the Department of Cooperative Governance did not consult with the FFC, it would disenfranchise Parliament, specifically the Committee.

Ms Mashigo sought clarity on the FFC in relation to all departments.

Mr Phelelani Dlomo, Committee Researcher, emphasized the importance of linkages regarding findings and the body of the report. He recommended that Members could raise the matter with the FFC; then revise the findings. He noted that behind every recommendation there had to be an interlink and that one could not just come up with new findings if they were not linked to the body of the report.

Mr Swart noted that 'job creation' should replace 'job creations' (page 10, first paragraph, fourth line).

Mr Swart suggested that 'It is the view' was superfluous and asked for it to be removed ([page 10], second paragraph).

It was suggested that the second paragraph commence with 'The Committee...' ([page 10], second paragraph).

Mr Ramatlakane said that the term 'noted' was not apt for findings and suggested that a better term be used (page 10).

Ms Mashigo sought clarity on the Land Act (page 10, third paragraph).  

Ms Mashigo also sought clarity on the prioritising of the land issues and noted the importance of land reform and redistribution.

The Chairperson suggested the insertion of the land reform issue into the body of the report.

The Chairperson noted the importance of discussing the issue in the body of the report, rather than just mentioning it for the first time in the report findings.

Mr Swart said that the word 'and' needed to be removed before the word ' illegal' (Committee’s recommendations, second last bullet).

Mr Swart proposed that the Committee adopt the draft report with amendments.

Mr Ramatlakane seconded the proposal.

The draft report on the MTBPS was adopted with amendments.

Committee’s second draft report on the Adjustments Appropriation Bill [B34- 2010]
Mr Swart sought clarity on 'the Department of Arts and Culture' (page 4, first paragraph).
 
Ms Mashigo confirmed that 'Arts ' was correct in the title of that department.

Ms Mashigo suggested that reference to the Acting Chief Financial Officer (CFO), Mr Sam Vilakazi, be removed from the report (page 4, third paragraph).

Ms Mashigo said that the same applied to subsequent references to Mr Vilakazi.

The Chairperson said that ‘health care' should be one word, 'healthcare'.

Members agreed.  

Mr Swart sought clarity in relation to the National Health Insurance Scheme. He wanted to know when the Committee had agreed to that issue. He was unaware of it (the last paragraph).  

Ms N Mkhulusi (ANC) requested that the word 'fully' be removed before the wording ‘qualified teachers’.
She felt that the word 'fully' was superfluous, as one was either qualified or not qualified (page 7, third line).

Members agreed.

The Chairperson corrected the spelling of ‘the Kha Ri Gude' (page 8, third line).

The Chairperson wanted to know exactly what had been meant by ‘funds’ (page 11, fourth bulleted paragraph).

The Committee adopted the second draft report with corrections.

The meeting was adjourned.