Committee Minutes adoption

Meeting report

Opening remarks
The Chairperson welcomed and thanked Members for their commitment to the Committee, and the value they added to the National Council of Provinces (NCOP).

He noted that although there was a briefing by the Department of Trade and Industry scheduled for this meeting, the delegation, led by the Minister, had been delayed and then unable to catch flights, so that briefing would not proceed.

Rather than rescheduling the entire meeting, he asked Members to consider the minutes that were not able to be adopted in the previous year, due to the Committee Secretary’s illness.

Committee Minutes and Reports: Adoption
22 May 2011
Ms E van Lingen (DA, Eastern Cape) noted that paragraph 4 noted the loss of many South African commercial farmers to other countries. She asked if the Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO) had any measures to protect them, and suggested that this point be followed up.

Mr F Adams (ANC, Western Cape) asked if the Committee had raised any concerns about democracy in Swaziland, to bring stability, as that was part of the mandate of DIRCO. This point, he thought, had been raised by the then-acting Director-General, not by the Committee, and suggested that this be corrected.

The minutes were adopted, subject to the necessary correction.

I June 2011
Ms van Lingen asked, in relation to point 2.1 if the Committee had made the necessary requests to the entity concerned.

The Chairperson said that this was still an outstanding issue. The entity and Committee should each furnish their report on the oversight visit to each other to reconcile what was still outstanding. He suggested that in future it may be useful for the Committee to divide into smaller groups, to cover more provinces.

Mr K Sinclair (COPE, Northern Cape) sought clarity on the programme of Parliament, particularly as this related to oversight visits. Taking Parliament to the People, originally scheduled for March, had been postponed, and he wondered if that slot could now be used for other oversight visits, particularly to Northern Cape.

Ms B Abrahams (DA, Gauteng) noted that there were a number of typographical errors. Instead of the Committee going through them all, they should be corrected by the Committee Secretary.

The Minutes were adopted, subject to amendments.

10 August 2011
The Minutes of 10 August 2011 were approved, without amendments.

31 August 2011
Ms M Dikgale (ANC, Limpopo) and Ms van Lingen noted that the list of those present needed to be corrected.

The minutes were approved, subject to that amendment.

7 September 2011
The minutes of 7 September 2011 were approved, with no amendments.

26 October 2011
The minutes of 26 October 2011 were approved, without amendments.

Committee’s draft report on Small Enterprise Development Agency
Members noted that no comments by the Committee had been included in the report on the Small Enterprise Development Agency (SEDA). These would need to be included.

Committee’s draft report on Intellectual Property Laws Amendment Bill
The draft report was approved.

Committee’s draft Annual Report
The draft report was approved.

Subsequent to the approval of these reports, Mr Adams referred to “the report” (without specifying which report he was referring to), noting that the work had been done jointly and that the other participants’ names should also be reflected. He thought the introduction also should be rewritten.

Mr Sinclair added that in one instance, the name of an official from the Department of Trade and Industry was not included.

The Chairperson agreed that these amendments would be made.

Other business
The Chairperson noted that he would be discussing matters with the Chief Whip in preparation for the oversight visits.

Mr Adams noted that the continuing theft of cable and copper wire was having a serious negative impact on economic development. In one town in the Eastern Cape, a town had been without communication for a whole week, when Telkom had to replace stolen cables. The Select Committee on Economic Development had asked Eskom, South African Local Government Association (SALGA), South African Police Service (SAPS), the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development and other stake holders, to make submissions to it on the impact of these issues. On the same day, Eskom would be giving a presentation on the rollout of the solar water heaters. In Richards Bay the formal handover to the community of their stakes in the mining industry had been arranged. He suggested that some select committees should perhaps consider holding joint meetings to discuss issues and share costs.

Mr Sinclair said that a workshop on Integrated National Electrification Programme was due to be held, in Durban, at about the same time as the handover in Richards Bay, to which Mr Adams had referred, and he thought that it would be useful to combine the two matters into one visit, to save costs.

Mr Adams also drew the attention of Members to the Local Economic Development (LED) Summit invitation by Democracy Development Programme (DDP), which was a local government initiative aimed at strengthening the bond with municipalities.

The Chairperson agreed a request should be put through as soon as possible for funding for the visits, and to confirm the dates.

Mr Adams noted an invitation by the Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Energy, to this Committee, to a meeting on Free Basic Services Delivery Programme.

Mr Sinclair noted that he would be attending a public hearing in Kimberley on that day, and tendered his apologies.

The meeting was adjourned.