Committee Report on 2011 Strategic Plan of Department of Rural Development & Land Reform & Ingonyama Trust Board, Committee Report on Western Cape Petition on land claims

Meeting report

Committee Report on Strategic Plan of Department of Rural Development and Land Reform and the Ingonyama Trust Board
The Chairperson placed the Report before the Committee for consideration.

Ms A Steyn (DA) pointed out that the Report did not contain recommendations of the Committee. She suggested that the Committee include recommendations before proceeding with its adoption.

The Chairperson agreed with the suggestion given that a committee report without recommendations submitted to the House could not be adopted but could only be noted by the House.

Ms Steyn recommended that the Committee have a joint meeting with the Appropriations Standing Committee to discuss the funding of the Department of Rural Development and Land Reform especially about funding for restitution. She stated that the issue could perhaps be included in the Report as a recommendation.

Ms P Xaba (ANC) suggested that the filling of posts by the Department be included in the Report as a recommendation. The Chairperson agreed, saying the Department should be urged to fill vacancies within the current financial year and to resolve its funding issues in the following financial year.

Ms P Ngwenya-Mabila (ANC) pointed out that there had been a decrease in the budget of the Department for land restitution. She also noted that the Annual Performance Plan of the Ingonyama Trust Board (ITB) was outstanding and should have been submitted with its Strategic Plan. She believed the Department to be under the impression that an Annual Performance Plan could be submitted two months after the Strategic Plan had been submitted.

The Chairperson clarified that only from 2012 onwards, would it be compulsory to submit the Strategic Plan and Annual Performance Plan together.

Ms Steyn proposed that the creation of jobs by the Department be monitored and that the Committee receive three or six monthly reports. She stated that members were not aware of what was taking place regarding youth development in rural areas. This should also be included in the Report as a recommendation.

The Chairperson took the suggestion even further and stated that perhaps the Committee should ask the Department to set a target for the number of estimated jobs within the current budget. He sensed that there was a need to restructure the funding of the Department as a whole. The Committee was aware that the Department had a backlog of land claims and court cases. The funding structure of the Department should be reconsidered as a whole. He felt it better to rephrase Ms Steyn’s proposal in this manner.

Mr R Cebekhulu (IFP) stated that youth training recruitment was only taking place in eight provinces and not in Kwazulu-Natal. He felt that Kwazulu-Natal should have some models of training.

The Chairperson understood Mr Cebekhulu’s concern but he rather recommended the streamlining of youth training and deployment in the KZN in line with the Department’s programme. He also recommended that a comprehensive report be made of lessons learnt by the Department regarding pilot projects. The formal incorporation would read into the Comprehensive Rural Development Programme (CRDP) of the Department. 

Ms Ngwenya-Mabila stated that the issue of late payments should also be addressed. Late payments accumulated interest.

The Chairperson responded that the concern would be covered by the restructuring of the Department’s budget. He proceeded to list the recommendations to be included in the Report:

▪ The Committee suggested the restructuring of the Department’s Budget. With the current budget structure, funds did not follow functions. Funds should follow functions. The restructuring of the budget would avoid land claim backlogs and court cases and there would be no need for virements.
▪ The Department needed to fill vacancies within the next two financial years. The capacity of the Department was affected by vacancies.
▪ State land should be surveyed within the next two financial years. The Chairperson could not comprehend what the hold up was.
▪ The Strategic Plan and the Annual Performance Plan should be submitted simultaneously.
▪ The R8.1bn budget of the Department should be translated into jobs. The Committee was yet to set a target date or timeframe within which this should be done.

Ms Steyn stated that the Department did have quarterly targets that had been met in regards to jobs created. According to information provided by the Department, the CRDP had created 9000 jobs and an additional 5300 employment opportunities had been created. What was meant by “employment opportunities”? Was it different to “jobs”?

The Chairperson stated that the issue was: when would jobs be created. Timeframes and targets were what the Committee needed. The Department’s budget was R8.1bn per year. The Committee needed to be provided with estimates on the numbers of jobs to be created. It would allow the Committee to keep track. The Department’s quarterly reports had to show actual jobs created. The Committee required estimates for the year.

The Department agreed to provide the estimated figures to the Committee within the next two weeks.

▪ The Committee suggested streamlining youth recruitment in KZN.
▪ It was recommended that lessons learnt by the Department on pilot projects should be comprehensively incorporated into a report.

The Chairperson placed the Committee Report before the Committee for adoption.

The Committee Report was adopted as amended. The Chairperson wished the adoption to include a proviso that even though the Report was adopted, the Ingonyama Trust Board’s Annual Performance Plan still remained outstanding.

The Chairperson asked the Department’s Director Genera,l Mr Mdu Shabane, when the Ingonyama Trust Board’s Annual Performance Plan would be provided to the Committee.

Mr Shabane replied that it could be made available to the Committee within two days.

The Chairperson was thankful.

Mr Shabane, after careful consideration, changed his mind and stated that the Ingonyama Trust Board’s Annual Performance Plan (APP) would be made available to the Committee by 1 June 2011.

The Chairperson felt that providing the APP within two days suited the Committee better. The APP had to still be distributed to members for consideration.

Deputy Minister, Mr Thulas Nxesi, was not sure whether the ITB’s APP could be made available to the Committee within two days. He asked, from a realistic point of view, if the Department could be afforded until 1 June 2011 to provide the ITB’s APP.

The Chairperson reiterated that the APP still had to be circulated to members but nevertheless agreed to the 1 June 2011 suggestion.  Members had to read the APP and to make recommendations. He added that when the Committee considered the ITB’s APP it should give effect to what members had recommended.

The Chairperson suggested a further recommendation to be included in the Committee Report:
▪ The Ingonyama Trust Board should stick to its legal mandate. The ITB was a land management agency. The APP should speak to its mandate.

The Committee agreed that this additional recommendation be included in the Committee Report.

Committee Report on Western Cape Petition on land claims
The Chairperson asked Ms L Mazibuko (DA) to read out the Committee recommendations contained in the Report. Thereafter the Report was placed before the Committee for consideration. Minor grammatical and spelling amendments were effected to the Report.

The Committee adopted the Report as amended.

The Chairperson stated that the Report included an addendum by the Department. The Report including the addendum would be forwarded to the land claim petitioners.

Committee Study Tour
The Chairperson stated that the Committee intended to undertake a study tour in order to compare the progress of the Department with that of its counterparts in other countries. The study tour entailed a weeklong visit to both Malaysia and China. The committee document placed before members summarised relevant issues pertaining to these countries.

Mr S Ntapane (UDM) stated that he had recently visited Korea and the Committee should consider it as an option for its study tour.

Ms Steyn felt that a visit to Malaysia would be useful.

The Chairperson stated that the study tour was scheduled for July 2011. He pointed out that the Department’s Comprehensive Rural Development Programme (CRDP) had incorporated aspects from the Chinese model and asked the Department to forward any useful information to the Committee.

Committee Programme
The Committee agreed to deal with its Programme at a later meeting.

Committee Minutes
The Committee adopted minutes dated 23 and 30 April 2011 as amended.

The meeting was adjourned.