Report on the Complaint against Ms Y Botha (ANC); Register of Members' Interests 2011

Meeting Summary

The Chairperson welcomed Members and expressed happiness of the fact that there was a quorum. Previous meetings had been cancelled due to failure by Members to attend the meetings. He registered apologies on behalf of his Co-Chairperson, Mr A Dlodlo (ANC) and on behalf of Mr J Van der Merwe (IFP). The agenda required the Committee to deal with a document that had been referred back to them by the National Assembly (NA) that dealt with the issue of Ms Botha. Currently the matter was an open session because the Committee was dealing with the report. The Committee had to deal with the Register of Members’ Interests, and the Consideration of complaints. The Committee adopted the agenda.

Report on the Complaint against Ms Y Botha (ANC)

The Chairperson informed the Committee that the report had been adopted and it had been tabled in the NA. The NA referred the report back to the Committee for reconsideration.

Ms A Dreyer (DA) highlighted that in their last meeting the Committee failed to make a quorum. She asked what reason had been given by the NA as motivation for referring that report back to the Committee.

The Chairperson responded that it would be difficult to respond to the question because the Committee had not interacted with the NA. The motion was read and adopted in the NA for reconsideration of the whole report. Based on different discussions and investigations it seemed as if further recommendations had been made in the report and that was all he knew.

Ms Dreyer stressed that no reasonable motivation had been put forward as to why the report had been referred back to the NCOP Committee. She requested that her statement be placed on record.  Secondly, she proposed that the Committee reaffirm their unanimous acceptance of the initial report and not change anything in that report.

The Chairperson agreed that there was no valid reason as to why the report had been referred back to the Committee. His Co-Chairperson was surprised when the report was referred back to them for reconsideration and further recommendations. Nonetheless the Committee had to deal with the report since it was in front of them.

Ms B Mabe (Gauteng, ANC) moved for the adoption of the report with no further recommendations.

Dr Z Luyenge (ANC) seconded the move.

Ms Dreyer proposed that the Committee should stick to the initial report and adopt it as is.

Ms D Kohler-Barnard (DA) seconded the motion.

The Chairperson noted that there were two motions on the floor and the Committee did not have time to debate. There was need to quickly deal with the matter and put it to vote. The Committee voted and the results were 10-5 in favor of the proposal that the report should be adopted without further recommendations.

The Committee adopted the report without further recommendations.

Register of Member’s Interests Report
The Chairperson asked the Registrar to give a report on the Register of Member’s Interests.

Ms Fazela Mahomed, Registrar, Parliament said that all Members of Parliament had been captured in the register. Information had been sent to Members for confirmation. A corrective form with a Companies and Intellectual Property Registration Office (CIPRO) printout had been given to Members so that Members could check their disclosure against the CIPRO printout to prevent any omissions. A number of responses and corrections had been received. The report was tabled for adoption.

The Chairperson requested Members of the Committee to officially adopt the report.

Mr A Mlangeni (ANC) congratulated the Registrar for her good work. He urged the Registrar to continue the good work. The Member moved for the adoption of the report.

Ms Dreyer seconded the adoption of the report.

The Committee adopted the report.

The meeting was adjourned.