SC Land: Discussion of Second and Third Term Committee Programmes

Meeting report

Announcement
The Chairperson informed the Committee that Ms A Qikani (ANC; Eastern Cape, ANC) had nominated him to act on her behalf. She was unable to attend the meeting due to illness and had been advised by the Chief Whip to visit a medical practitioner.

The Chairperson noted that the meeting would be brief as the Committee would look at its agenda for the next two terms. The Committee would not be able to adopt to adopt these as there was no quorum.

Second Term Committee Programme
Mr Asgar Bawa, Committee Secretary, briefly went through the 2^nd Term programme and highlighted the Committee’s planned activities. He indicated that there would be no meetings scheduled for 22 and 23 May because all Members would be attending the Disability Summit.

The Chairperson invited comments from Members.

Mr Bawa pointed out that the oversight visits to Gauteng and Mpumalanga on 5 June 2012 was dependent on the approval of the provinces.

Ms Deshni Pillay, Content Advisor, suggested that the Committee should visit Gauteng first then proceed to Mpumalanga. This trip would when they go on an oversight visit to mines that had been flooding water with acid and other toxic chemicals.

Members were concerned with the distances between the two destinations.

The Chairperson ruled that the Committee Secretary should sort out the logistics of the oversight visit taking consideration the distances and the time it took to move from one place to another.

Third Term Committee Programme
Mr Bawa mentioned that he had identified the period 8-16 September 2012 for the Morocco study Tour.

Ms Pillay suggested that the Committee should also look at issues arising from the oversight visit and make recommendations.

The Chairperson stated that all the issues that could be handled from outside the parliamentary premises could easily be done within a period of a week. Those issues that were supposed to be done inside Parliament could also be done in a much quicker way. Recommendations could be handled during Committee days.

Mr Bawa cautioned Members that oversight visits were not supposed be undertaken back to back, time should be allocated for breaks between oversight visits.

Ms Pillay said that the periods between oversight visits could be used for inviting different departments and entities for briefings.

Mr D Worth (DA) asked why the Committee had chosen Morocco for the proposed study tour.

Mr Kobus Jooste, Committee Researcher, explained that Morocco had similar climatic conditions as South Africa. All South African water resources were fully committed but the rural areas had no water infrastructure at all. Morocco had experienced similar problems since the 1970’s, and then the Moroccan Government had initiated solutions to address the problem. Some of those solutions worked while others did not. It was a great opportunity for the Committee to learn from another developing African country. The current urbanization that was happening in South Africa demanded that water infrastructure should be made accessible to all South Africans be they in rural or urban.

Consideration of Minutes
The Chairperson informed Members that the outstanding minutes could not be adopted due to inadequate number of members to form a quorum.

Mr Bawa cautioned Members that the House Chairperson usually asked the support staff for reasons why minutes were adopted very late, Committees were required to submit weekly reports.

The meeting was adjourned