South African education system overview: Parliamentary Research Unit report; 2012 plans; Minutes & Report adoption

Meeting report

Election of Acting Chairperson
Ms N Gina (ANC) was elected to chair the meeting in the absence of the usual Chairperson, Adv I Malale.

Overview of the South African Education System: Parliamentary Research Unit briefing
Mr Mamphago Modiba, Parliamentary Researcher, gave a brief overview of the South African education system, to prepare Members for their upcoming visit to Germany and to enable them to answer questions that may be posed. It was noted that the manner in which students were dealt with during their matriculation level had an enormous impact upon their higher education. It was noted that more checks were needed in the student funding systems, to avoid the current situation where many students received money after submitting false information about their parents’ financial circumstances. Lack of accountability in the funding institutions was largely the cause of the lack of smooth running of these institutions. There was also an urgent need to readjust the financial aid system.

Mr G Radebe (ANC) asked that those Members attending the short visit to Germany should provide the rest of the Committee with a feedback report.

The Committee Secretary outlined some of the details for the travelling arrangements.

Draft Committee Report on Public hearings on the Skills Development Amendment Bill [B16-2011]: 08 and 09 November
The draft Committee Report on the public hearings on the Skills Development Amendment Bill [B16-2011] held on 08 and 09 November was tabled.

Mr S Makhubele (ANC) noted that the proposal from Business Unity South Africa would have affected the functioning of the Board.

Mr A van der Westhuizen (DA) said that the absence of voting rights of some members did have an impact on the board’s functionality.

The Draft Report was adopted.

Adoption of Committee Minutes
The Committee Minutes from 11 October 2011 to 23 November 2011 were tabled for adoption.

Dr J Kloppers-Lourens (DA) cited a spelling correction in respect of the minutes of 11 October 2011, and the minutes were adopted, subject to that amendment.

Dr Kloppers-Lourens, in respect of the Minutes of 12 October 2011, noted that there was a need to give some credit to the previous Chief Executive Officer for the unqualified audit report.

Mr A Mpontshane (IFP) raised a question of clarity on bullet point 3 of the National Student Financial Aid Scheme Annual Report for 2010.11 and the Chairperson explained what it meant.

Dr Kloppers-Lourens sought clarity and correction of the use of the words “overpaid” and “reimbursed” on pages 2 to 3, suggesting that it should read “overcharged” and “reimbursed”.

The Minutes of 12 October 2011 were adopted, subject to correction as suggested.

The Committee Minutes of 18, 19 and 26 October 2011 were adopted without amendments.

The Committee Minutes of 02 November 2011 were adopted, with a minor change concerning the reference to a Member who had passed away.

The Committee Minutes of 08 November 2011 were adopted, subject to correction of the misspelling of a name on page 1.

The Committee Minutes of 9 November were tabled.

Mr C Moni (ANC) noted that bullet point 2 gave the impression that skills development programmes were lacking, although in fact they did exist. He suggested, and the Committee agreed, to add some clarity on this point.

The Minutes of 9 November were then adopted, subject to this addition, and subject to the correction of a grammatical error in bullet point 2.3.

The Minutes of 16 November 2011 were tabled.

Dr Kloppers-Lourens asked for consistency in citing Members with a capital ‘M’, and suggested that the reference to Ms Magazi being ill should be clarified by mentioning that she passed away.

The Minutes were adopted, subject to these amendments.

The Minutes of 21 November 2011 were adopted without amendments.

The Minutes of 23 November 2011 were tabled.

Mr Moni noted that the job designation of Mr Qonde needed to be corrected.

Mr Mpontshane praised the good and strong working relationship between the Committee and Department. He then pointed out that paragraph 3.7 did not appear to address the core challenges in the skills development system. He questioned why the DA had voted for the Bill in these circumstances.

Dr Kloppers-Lourens responded that problems were only seen after the DA had voted on the Bill, but it had referred the matter to the Chief Whip of the DA.

Mr A van der Westhuizen added that the Bill had been regarded as addressing many of the challenges as well as the matter of the independence of the National Skills Authority and National Skills Fund, as highlighted by the Auditor-General.

Mr S Makhubele(ANC) added that this piece of legislation did not address key issues of scarce skills development.

Committee’s Action Plan for 2012.
The Acting Chairperson noted that the Action Plan now tabled was an improved version of the previous one tabled.

She pointed out that the Action Plan included visits to the Universities of Free State, North West, Limpopo and University of Pretoria.

Mr G Radebe felt that the Committee needed to place stronger emphasis on issues of accountability The Committee had not made enough interventions in this regard. He also reminded Members that only one week would be allowed for these visits.

Dr Kloppers-Lourens added that the Committee would also need to consider visiting Further Education and Training Colleges.  

The meeting was adjourned.