Committee Programme for its Oversight Visit to the Western Cape

Meeting report

Opening Remarks
The Chairperson welcomed Members. Thereafter she informed them that the meeting would be brief as the Committee would only consider outstanding minutes as well as the draft programme for its planned oversight visit in the Western Cape.

Committee Programme for its Oversight Visit to the Western Cape, 19-20 June 2012
The Chairperson announced that the Committee would undertake an oversight visit in the Western Cape on 19 and 20 June 2012. She then provided details about schedules and the Committee’s planned engagements for each day (see document).

On Tuesday, 19 June 2012, at 09h00, Members of the Portfolio Committee would depart from Parliament to visit the warehouses and Robben Island. It should be noted that ferries departed at 9am, 1pm and 3pm, weather permitting, from Nelson Mandela Gateway, at the V&A Waterfront.

On Wednesday, 20 June 2012, at 09h00, Members would depart from Parliament to do oversight in the different Parliamentary Villages and Fernwood. And again, at 17h00, Members would be taken to the different Parliamentary Villages.

Ms A Dreyer (DA) said that she was not sure if it was necessary to do oversight in the parliamentary villages because most Members lived there and it did not make any sense since they were all familiar with the conditions in the parliamentary villages.

Ms N Madlala (ANC) also thought it was not necessary for Members to go to the parliamentary villages because they were familiar with the challenges there. She suggested that they should rather push for Parliamentary Notice Boards in the parliamentary villages because there were none existent.

Ms P Ngwenya-Mabila (ANC) differed and said that the visit to parliamentary villages was important and it would give Members an ideal opportunity to see for themselves what was happening in the different parliamentary villages.

Ms N Ngcengwane (ANC) agreed with Ms Ngwenya-Mabila because not all Members were staying in Acacia Park. It was important to have that visit because they would not know what was happening and what challenges were encountered there until they visited the Parliamentary Villages.

The Chairperson said she had no problem with visiting the parliamentary villages, however she pointed that Minister would undertake such an exercise. She therefore suggested that the Committee should postpone its visit.

Ms Dreyer said she would go along with that suggestion but one of the main problems in Acacia Park where she lived was that there was no register of residents who were eligible to live there and there was no certainty about whether Parliamentary staff, were entitled to live there.

Ms C Madlopha (ANC) said she was of the view that the Committee should visit those places because there were different challenges and the Committee needed to have a common approach when dealing with those challenges. She understood that the Minister would be visiting the villages but as a Committee it needed a common understanding and approach to the matter because at the end of the day it had to produce a report on the matter.

The Chairperson insisted that they should delay the visit by the Committee for now and allow the Minister to make his own findings about the challenges in the Parliamentary Villages.

Ms Ngwenya-Mabila said they were a Committee and as a Committee they were talking about their own Committee programme. The visit to the Parliamentary Villages would also empower and assist the Minister to address any challenges.

But if the Chairperson felt that the visit should not go ahead then there was nothing they could do, but it would have made it easier for the Minister when doing the Departmental work to look at the Committee’s report in terms of its findings and recommendations with regard to what was happening in the different parliamentary villages so that the Minister could deal with those challenges in totality.

The Committee agreed that it should do the oversight visit to the different parliamentary villages as prescribed in the draft programme.

The programme was adopted.

Committee Minutes
Committee Minutes dated 06 March 2012

The Chairperson tabled the minutes for consideration.

Members were satisfied with the report.

Ms Madlala moved for adoption of minutes.

Ms Madlopha seconded the move.

The Committee adopted the minutes

Committee Minutes dated 13 March 2012
The Chairperson tabled the minutes for consideration.

Ms Dreyer corrected the spelling of name and also pointed out a minor error on page 2 of the report.

The Chairperson said there should be a qualification in terms of the second sentence in the last paragraph of page 2 of the minutes which read that the department planned to re-establish workshops.

Ms Ngcengwane and Ms Ngwenya-Mabila made minor changes to the minutes. The first was grammatical and the latter was rephrasing of a sentence in the document.

The Chairperson referred to 3.11 on page 4 and highlighted that only Members that attended that meeting would understand that paragraph. He therefore felt that it needed to be redrafted.

Ms Madlopha agreed that the background was not clear if one was not part of that meeting

Ms Ngcengwane corrected the use of “will” instead of “would” in 3.12 on page 4 of the minutes. The sentence read – “the department still need to change the projections of the country with regard to their responsibility as the hosting country and need to add whether to pay upfront or paying later with regard to all sports that will be carried”. She said that it was a past report and the use of “will” should be changed to “would” which was in the past tense.

The Committee adopted the minutes with amendments.

The Chairperson thanked Members for their inputs.

The meeting was adjourned.