South African Post Office Bill [B2-2010]: Consideration of NCOP Amendments

Meeting report

Briefing by the Department of Communications (Doc) on the NCOP Amendments
Mr Willie Vukela, Acting Chief Director: Policy Impact Tracking and Assessment, DoC, reminded Members that the South African Post Office SOC Limited Bill was adopted by the Committee in June 2011. After a series of meetings, the Select Committee on Labour and Public Enterprises proposed some amendments to the Bill.

Clause 18: Termination of Employment of CEO, CFO and COO
The Select Committee proposed that the term “concurrence” be replaced with the word “approval” in clause 18(1).

Clause 22: Subsidiaries and Accountability
The Select Committee proposed an amendment to clause 22(3)(c). They proposed that “National Assembly” be replaced with “Parliament”.

Clause 25(5)(b): Intervention by Minister
The Select Committee proposed that “National Assembly” be removed and substituted with “Parliament”.

Clause 29(3)(b): Regulations and Policy
The Select Committee proposed that “National Assembly” be removed and substituted with “Parliament”.

Discussion
The Chairperson noted that Members must have discussed the proposed amendments already and sought legal advice.

Mr N van den Berg (DA) stated that the Committee should disregard the proposed amendments to clauses 22, 25, and 29. However, he supported the amendment to clause 18.

Ms J Killian (COPE) added that she supported the proposed amendment to clause 18 as well, but disagreed with the Select Committee's proposed amendments to clauses 22, 25, and 29. It was important that the Bill differentiated between the two houses of Parliament, as the Constitution clearly defined what the roles were. The National Assembly (NA) and the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) had different roles even though all Bills passed through the NCOP. She proposed that the Committee retain the original wording.

Ms A van Wyk (ANC) said that from the ANC's point of view, they supported the proposed amendment to clause 18, but opposed the amendments proposed to clauses 22, 25, and 29.

The Chairperson noted that the Committee would accept the amendment to clause 18. However, the original wording would be kept for clauses 22, 25 and 29. He noted the Members' concurrence. The Committee supported the Bill with an amendment to clause 18.

Mr van den berg moved for the adoption of the Bill.

Rev M Zondi (IFP) seconded the adoption.

The meeting was adjourned.