Report on 2011 public submissions: adoption; Discussion on planned study tour & workshop

Meeting report

Adv Holomisa mentioned that the Committee had to one report and two outstanding minutes to consider. The Committee would be having a workshop and some stakeholders had to be informed on time. The issue of SeSotho SaLebowa also needed to be wrapped up. Then there was the proposed study tour to Kenya and Ghana. The latter country had a House of Traditional Leaders.

Mr D Bleom (COPE; Free State) asked about the report that needed to be adopted.

Adv Holomisa explained that the report had been discussed before but it was not adopted because the Members present could not make a quorum. 

Mr De Beer (DA; Northern Cape) said that there was no need to discuss the content of the report and suggested that the Committee should rather discuss the workshop.

Adv Holomisa said that the Committee could chose two out of three constitutional experts as workshop facilitated. The names were Professors Hugh Corder, Shadrack Gutto and Pierre De Vos. The management Committee had suggested all three names

Mr Bloem suggested that Members should begin by adopting adopt the reports before Members could leave the room.

Report on 2011 public submissions
Mr Bloem moved for adoption of the draft report on the 2011 Public Submissions.

Mr De Beer seconded the motion and the report was accordingly adopted.

Adv Holomisa said that the report would be published in the ATC. The dates for public submissions would be advertised in the media.

Committee Minutes dated 21 October 2011
Mr Bloem moved for the adoption the minutes.

Mr De Beer seconded the motion and the minutes were approved.

Committee minutes dated 24 February 2012
Adv Holomisa tabled the minutes for consideration.

The minutes were approved with no changes.

Attendance of Meetings
Ms Mncube noted that it was difficult for Members to attend meetings because it clashed with other committees. She therefore suggested that the recess period could be used as an alternative.
Mr Bloem explained that all the joint standing committees met on Fridays except for the Standing Committee of Intelligence.

Ms Mncube said that the outstanding reports had been waiting for adoption for more than four months.

Adv Holomisa said that Members should realise that Friday was a normal working day for Parliament. He mentioned that party whips were contacted to release Members to attend Committee meetings.

Mr Mnguni mentioned that text messages were usually sent to Members so that they could confirm if they were coming to a meeting or not.

Workshop preparation 
The Chairperson invited Members to suggest two names of people who could facilitate the proposed workshop.

Mr S Swart (ACDP) suggested the names of Prof Gutto and Prof De Vos and said that other Committees were also using them.

Adv Holomisa said that the purpose of the proposed workshop would determine which expert should be chosenand Prof Corder was conversant with constitutional matters.

Mr Bloem seconded the names of Prof Corder and Prof Gutto and the Committee agreed.

The Chairperson said that the management committee would sort out the dates of the workshop.

Ghana/Kenya Study Tour
Adv Holomisa suggested that the Committee could rather go to Ghana because Kenya had been grappling with its own issues.

Ms W Makgadie (ANC) said that the objectives of the trip would determine which country would be visited.

Mr Swart said that Kenya was the only other African country with a Constitutional Review Committee. He added that the hospitality of Kenyans could not even be matched by European countries. He however noted that Ghana had a House of Traditional Leaders.

The Chairperson suggested that the Committee could try both countries, he then pleaded with the Members to avail themselves by attending meetings on Fridays.

The meeting was adjourned.