Report of Parliamentary Group on International Relations; Report by Joint Whips' Forum on Attendance Policy of MPs; Report by JSCI on compliance with statutory reporting obligations; Report on legacy issues for 5th Parliament

Joint Rules

05 March 2014
Chairperson: Mr M Mahlangu (ANC), Co-Chairperson: Mr V Sisulu (ANC)
Share this page:

Meeting Summary

The Joint Rules Committee met to receive a report from the Parliamentary Group on International Relations (PGIR), a report by Joint Whips’ Forum on Attendance Policy of Members of Parliament, a report on the Joint Standing Committee on Intelligence (JSCI) compliance with statutory reporting obligations and a report on legacy issues for the 5th Parliament.

The report from the PGIR covered the prioritisation of the African Agenda with regards to the South African Parliament’s participation in the Southern African Development Community Parliamentary Forum (SADC-PF), and the Pan African Parliament (PAP). It also dealt with the process of transforming SADC-PF into a full-fledged regional parliamentary body was evolving. The South African Parliament had been request to second a Gender Programme Officer for a period of two years with the view to strengthen this institution with regards to formulation and implementation process of the gender equality and women development programmes. According to the report, during this reporting period, the Pan African Parliament hosted the Seventh Ordinary Session hosted in May 2013. Of significance importance was the seamless election of the New Bureau and the smooth transfer of power from the Second Parliament to the Third Parliament. The report further discussed parliamentary multilateral relations, with respect to the participation of our Parliament in the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA), Africa, Caribbean, Pacific - European Union (ACP-EU), Globe, Crans Motana, and South African Parliament - European Parliament Relations. The report by the PGIR was adopted by the Committee.

The Committee adopted Parliament’s new attendance policy for Members of Parliament. The policy comprised of 11 sections which covered definitions, the rationale for the policy and minimum standards for attendance, purpose and scope of the policy, categories of leave, procedures for granting leave, period of leave, sanctions in respect of absences, record of leave, recourse for grievances in respect of the application of the policy, and the communication of the policy.  Section 8, which dealt with sanctions in respect of absences, the draft policy provided that if a Member was absent for 15 or more consecutive sitting days of the National Assembly or the NCOP, without the leave of the House, the Member loses his/her seat. If a Member was absent from 3 consecutive meetings of a committee to which he/she was appointed as a full Member, outside of a sanctioned absence agreed to by the Member’s political party, a sanction may be applied to the Member by either the NA or the NCOP to the effect of a fine of R1000 for each day of absence. In the case of the NCOP, if a Member was absent during a “three-line whip” without being on authorized leave in terms of this policy sanctions may be applied to the Member by the Council. This policy did not replace any procedures established by any of the Houses to be followed in the investigation and determination of allegations of misconduct and contempt of Parliament.

Members asked questions related to the application of the policy in accordance with the rule of Parliament and the accommodation of smaller political parties in terms of attending committee meetings. The rationale behind the limit of 2 days for cultural or religious leave was also questioned. A member of the Democratic Alliance said it was important to state that the House must give reasons if they refused leave. This was so that favouritism and partiality could be avoided and challenged. The policy was adopted by the Committee.

On the status of the reports to be submitted to Parliament, the Committee was told that on 4 March 2014, the Joint Standing Committee on Intelligence was notified that the Annual Reports for the periods 2010/11 and 2011/12 did not compromise national security and these reports were to be tabled in Parliament on 5 March 2014. The Annual Report for the period 2012/13 was still under consideration by the relevant Ministers. The matter was being monitored on a day to day basis to ensure that the report was tabled before Parliament rises in March 2013.

The Joint Standing Committee was brief by the table staff of the National Assembly on 10 issues which were not finalised by the Joint Rules Committee of the 4th Parliament. It was proposed that they be presented to the Joint Rules Committee of the 5th Parliament for processing. These issues included; Membership of the Joint Standing Committee on Defence; Mandate of the Joint Standing Committee on Defence; Mandate of the Constitutional Review Committee; Language policy of Parliament; Public Participation Model; Interim Joint Committee on Scrutiny of Delegated Legislation; Oversight mechanism in Financial Administration of Parliament Act; Money Bills Amendment Procedure and Related Matters Act; Role of Parliament in treaty-making processes; and Parliament’s international relations policy and the PGIR. The Committee was satisfied with the legacy issues proposed to be presented to the 5th Parliament.
 

Meeting report

Opening Remarks by Chairperson
The Chairperson, Mr M Mahlangu (ANC) apologised to the Members for the late start of the meeting. The delay was as a result of another meeting with a delegation from the Iranian Parliament.

Apologies and Consideration of Agenda
The Chairperson called on the Secretary to the National Assembly, Mr Masibulele Xaso, to read the apologies which had been received. Mr Xaso noted that apologies had been received from Mr J de Lange (ANC), Mr A Watson (DA), Mr R Tau (ANC), Ms N Ntwanambi (ANC), Mr V Bloem (COPE), Ms L Mabija (ANC), Ms E van Lingen (DA) and Mr M Nzimande (ANC).

The Chairperson tabled the agenda of the meeting and called for comments or corrections from the Committee. There were no comments or corrections and the agenda was agreed to.

Adoption of Committee Minutes of 19 February 2014
The Chairperson took the Committee through a page-by-page consideration of the minutes. There were no comments or corrections to the minutes. He presented the minutes to the Committee for adoption
Mr L Landers (ANC) moved for the adoption of the minutes. This motion was seconded by Mr N Koornhorf (COPE).

Matters Arising
The Chairperson asked Members if there were any issues arising from previous meetings which were not on the agenda.

Mr P Sizani, the Chief Whip of the ANC, pointed out that there was a minor error in the minutes dated 19 February 2014. said It was written “JB Sizani” but there was no one in Parliament with such a name. The correct name was “JB Sibanyoni”.

Report by the Parliamentary Group on International Relations (PGIR)
The Chairperson called on Ms F Hajaig, House Chairperson: International Relations in the National Assembly, to present the report. The consideration and adoption of the report had been deferred from the last meeting and Members now had a revised copy of the report.

Ms Hajaig said she was going to condense the presentation and focus on a few highlights. She read out some parts from the report which had been tabled before the Committee.

Ms Hajaig said the political report served as an account of Parliament’s international relations engagements in the year 2012 – 2013. Parliament’s participation in international relations was conducted by the Presiding Officers and the Members of Parliament, through the strategic support of the Parliamentary Group on International Relations (PGIR). In line with norms and values of the South African Constitution and the obligations of inter-parliamentary organisations, the South African Parliament had consistently provided leadership on matters that sought to entrench democratic values, social justice, rule of law, fundamental human rights, and gender equality and women development, trade, economic, and political developments, at home and abroad.

The report covered five thematic areas which included:
Prioritisation of the African Agenda with regards to the South African Parliament’s participation in the Southern African Development Community Parliamentary Forum (SADC-PF), and the Pan African Parliament (PAP).
2)         The process of transforming SADC-PF into a fully-fledged regional parliamentary body was evolving. To this end, the 33rd SADC-PF Plenary Session hosted in Tanzania in October 2013 began taking practical steps towards Operating like a Parliament, this was the policy decision of the SADC-PF that will see that body moving away in the process of operation like a conference and operate like a House of Parliament and this Parliament will be held rotationally in all the SADC-PF Member Parliaments.
3)         The South African Parliament had been request to second a Gender Programme Officer for a period of two years with the view to strengthen this institution with regards to formulation and implementation process of the gender equality and women development programmes.
4)         During this reporting period, the Pan African Parliament hosted the Seventh Ordinary Session in May 2013. Of significance importance was the seamless election of the New Bureau and the smooth transfer of power from the Second Parliament to the Third Parliament.  
5)         The report further discussed parliamentary multilateral relations, with respect to the participation of Parliament in the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA), Africa, Caribbean, Pacific - European Union (ACP-EU), Globe, Crans Motana, and South African Parliament - European Parliament Relations.

Ms Hajaig told the Committee that the Speaker of the National Assembly had led a South African delegation to the 128th Inter-Parliamentary Union Assembly hosted in Ecuador, in March 2013 under theme “New Approaches, New Solutions”. This plenary session provided an opportunity to debate the paradigm shift required to ensure a holistic approach to development. The session further acknowledged and devised new strategies to address global developmental challenges that relates to poverty crises, political conflict, economic and climate change challenges.

In this financial year, the Speaker led a six member delegation to the 129th Inter-Parliamentary Union Assembly in Geneva (Switzerland) from 7 – 9 October 2013. Key amongst the various issues discussed was the need to ensure that the current position of the Secretary General be replaced by a woman candidate from Africa when it expired this year. South Africa was specifically requested to lead in this initiative. It was also noted that better coordination of the African delegation through forums such as SADC PF and PAP be organised before IPU meetings to allow Africa to speak with one voice.  

In 2013, the South African Parliament successfully hosted the 59th Commonwealth Parliamentary Association in September under theme “Effective Solutions to Commonwealth Developmental Challenges”. The adoption of the Commonwealth Charter was one of the major outcomes of this conference. Delegates discussed issues ranging from the MDGs, access to land by women, and Parliamentary intervention in the formal economy and entrepreneurial sectors. Key amongst the highlights of the conference was the election of the Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly to become a Regional Representative Executive of the CPA. The election of the CWP Chairperson, Ms Rebecca Kadaga from Uganda, was one of the key political developments of the conference. 

At the level of the parliamentary bilateral relations and strategic partnerships, the South African Parliament had been steadily strengthening its relationship with its counterparts. On 10 September 2013, the Speaker of the National Assembly signed a Memorandum of Understanding that sought to strengthen the bilateral relations the Parliament of South Africa and the Parliament of Mozambique. This MoU put more emphasis on the need for the two parliaments to develop an implementation plan for the implementation of the identified areas of facilitation of the cooperation, which included the establishment of the Parliamentary Friendship Groups, conduct of reciprocal study and work visits, and parties to agree to support the bilateral meetings between the Speakers of the Assemblies.
In May 2013, Parliament hosted the President of the European Parliament Mr Schultz for a reciprocal bilateral visit to strengthen strategic relations between the two Parliaments. During this visit the Speaker acknowledged with gratitude the continued support from the European Parliament, through which a number of Members of Parliament benefited and further completed their training and academic programmes.

In strengthening the democratic norms and values in the SADC region, the South African Parliament participated in three major national Elections Observation Missions as organised by the SADC-PF, these took place in Swaziland, Angola and Zimbabwe. There were many lessons learned in all these elections observations for future missions of similar kind, particularly the sharing of best practices.

With regards to the attainment of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and women development, the South African Parliamentarians were regular participants at annual United Nations Commissions on the Status of Women and Inter-Parliamentary Union Meetings on Women in Politics. In this regard, the previous meetings were held in New York, from 4– 15 March 2013. The question of violence against women and children was discussed as a critical matter to be resolved in the world. 

Finally, it had been observed that during this period there was no adequate time allocated to Parliamentary Group of International Relations (PGIR) and its Focus Groups for the purposes of the South African international relations engagements and political reports which emanated from various engagements of parliamentary international relations. It was therefore recommended that concerted effort should be taken to revive the work of the PGIR.

Ms Hajaig tabled the report for adoption by the JRC.

The Chairperson asked if there were any comments or questions with regards to the report. There were no comments or questions from the Members.

The Committee adopted the report.

Report by Joint Whips’ Forum on Attendance Policy of Members of Parliament
Mr Xaso took the Committee through a presentation on the content of the draft policy.

The final draft policy as presented to the Committee had eleven sections.

Section 1 contained the definitions of words and phrases as used in the policy.
Section 2 section gave the rationale for the policy and minimum standards for attendance while the Sections 3 and 4 covered the purpose and scope of the policy respectively.

Section 5 dealt with categories of leave. The various categories of leave provided for by the draft policy included; family responsibility leave; compassionate leave; maternity leave; parental/adoption leave; spousal leave; political party business leave; private business leave; study leave; cultural or religious leave; sick leave; and special leave.

Sections 6 and 7 contained the procedure for granting leave and the period of leave.

Section 8, which dealt with sanctions in respect of absences, the draft policy provided that if a Member was absent for 15 or more consecutive sitting days of the National Assembly or the NCOP, without the leave of the House, the Member loses his/her seat. If a Member was absent from 3 consecutive meetings of a committee to which he/she was appointed as a full Member, outside of a sanctioned absence agreed to by the Member’s political party, a sanction may be applied to the Member by either the NA or the NCOP to the effect of a fine of R1000 for each day of absence. In the case of the NCOP, if a Member was absent during a “three-line whip” without being on authorized leave in terms of this policy sanctions may be applied to the Member by the Council. This policy did not replace any procedures established by any of the Houses to be followed in the investigation and determination of allegations of misconduct and contempt of Parliament.

Sections 9 dealt with record of leave periods while section 10 covered recourse for grievances in respect of the application of the policy. The last section, Section 11, dealt with the communication of the policy.

Discussion
The Chairperson opened the floor for comments from Members on the draft policy.

Mr Koornhoof said there were situations where Members of smaller parties could miss participation in a Committee to which they were assigned because they were in another committee. How was the policy going to accommodate such situations?

Mr Xaso replied that sanctions were only applicable if the absence of a Member was unauthorised.

The Chairperson added that the report of the other committee where the Member was in attendance will indicate that the member was present.

Ms N Mfeketo (ANC), Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly, noted that cultural or religious leave was only 2 days. What was going to happen in a situation where the event took longer than 2 days? What was the justification for giving a limit of only 2 days? She gave the example that if her son was going to the bush for initiation, she would need more than 2 days.

Mr Xaso replied that if 2 days was insufficient for cultural reasons, the special leave category could be put into action.

Ms D Schafer (DA) said it was important to state that the Houses must give reasons if they refused leave. This was so that favouritism and partiality could be avoided and challenged.

Mr H Gaum (ANC) asked why a definition of “absence” was not included in the policy as this would simplify issues.

Mr Xaso replied that the drafting team will consider the importance of including a definition of “absence” in the policy. However, at present “attendance” was defined.

Ms S Kalyan (DA) said the rules of Parliament were currently being reviewed. What was the implication on the current policy?

Mr Xaso replied that the policy and sanctions contained therein were going to be operationalised by the rules so the policy could be adopted in the meantime but would only be operationalised when the rules were in place.

Mr Sizani said the policy had been adopted by the parties through the Chief Whips’ Forum so it was just brought to the JRC to be adopted and made in compliance with the rules. There was no need to get into the substance of the policy as parties had already agreed to it.

The Chairperson noted that there was sufficient consensus on the matter.

The policy was adopted by the Joint Rules Committee.

Report from the Joint Standing Committee on Intelligence (JSCI)
The Chairperson called on Mr C Frolick (ANC) to update the Committee on the situation of the reports from the JSCI.

Mr Frolick read out the report from the JSCI. On the status of the reports to be submitted to Parliament, the Committee was told that on 4 March 2014, the JSCI was notified that the Annual Reports for the periods 2010/11 and 2011/12 did not compromise national security and these reports were to be tabled in Parliament on 5 March 2014. Mr Frolick told the Committee that he had confirmation that the reports had actually been tabled.

The Annual Report for the period 2012/13 was still under consideration by the relevant Ministers. The matter was being monitored on a day to day basis to ensure that the report was tabled before Parliament rises in March 2014.

The Chairperson confirmed that the reports were tabled on the same day. He asked if members were happy with the situation.

Mr Landers said the Committee had noted the report but was not happy.

Report on legacy issues for 5th Parliament
Ms Marina Griebenouw, Procedural Officer, NA Table Staff, briefed the Committee on some issues which were not finalised by the Joint Rules Committee of the 4th Parliament. It was proposed that they be presented to the Joint Rules Committee of the 5th Parliament for processing.

Membership of the Joint Standing Committee on Defence
This was a matter that had to be processed urgently at the start of the 5th Parliament to enable the JSC on Defence to function properly in that Parliament. In the 4th Parliament the JSC on Defence was supposed to have a membership of 37, making it unwieldy and difficult to manage.
A proposal had been put forward for the Joint Rules to be amended to allow the JRC to determine the size of that committee at the start of each Parliament. The number of members per party was determined by a formula in the Interim Constitution.
After an objection at the last meeting this matter was considered, a legal opinion was requested to determine whether a constitutional amendment would be required to allow the JRC to determine the size of the JSC on Defence. The opinion subsequently confirmed that only a rule change was required, not any constitutional amendments.

Mandate of the Joint Standing Committee on Defence      
Currently there was some duplication and much overlap in the mandate of the JSC on Defence and the House oversight committees. On 18 October 2012, the Joint Standing Committee on Defence published a report in the ATC that contained various recommendations relating to membership, the mandate of the committee and issues of confidentiality, among other things. These matters must still be considered.

Mandate of the Constitutional Review Committee
On 21 June 2013, the Constitutional Review Committee published a report on the ATC containing a number of recommendations on its powers and functions. The report was referred to the JRC for processing. The recommendations were far reaching and would have to be considered in some detail by the JRC of the 5th Parliament and its subcommittee.

Language policy of Parliament
Following a discussion at the Parliamentary Oversight Authority (POA) on the language of Hansard, particularly the publication of Hansard in English only, the Language Policy of Parliament was referred to the JRC for deliberation. An update of the Language Policy could be done by the 5th Parliament, also in view of a number of bills relating to language matters that were passed recently.

Public Participation Model
An update on the progress with the Public Participation Model was given at the meeting of the JRC on 19 February 2014. It was agreed that it would be handed to the 5th Parliament as a legacy matter for further processing and finalisation.

Interim Joint Committee on Scrutiny of Delegated Legislation
Consideration must be given to whether a permanent mechanism for the scrutiny of delegated legislation ought to be created or whether the 5th Parliament wants to continue with an interim joint committee. If it decided to continue with an interim mechanism, there were draft operational guidelines proposed by the current committee that could then be considered. They could also be incorporated into any deliberations about a permanent mechanism.

Oversight mechanism in Financial Administration of Parliament Act
The National Assembly had passed the Financial Administration of Parliament Amendment Bill. It was currently being considered by the NCOP. Once enacted, the Joint Rules Committee will have to establish the oversight mechanism provided for in section 4 of the Act and the necessary rules will have to be drafted. That will have to be done by the 5th Parliament.

Money Bills Amendment Procedure and Related Matters Act
Following a discussion in the JRC, the Standing Committee on Finance was instructed by resolution to initiate an amendment procedure for the Money Bills Amendment Procedure and Related Matters Act. The last progress report was given in September 2012. An amended bill had not yet been presented by the Standing Committee on Finance, so the matter will have to be taken up and finalised in the 5th Parliament.

Role of Parliament in treaty-making processes
The Portfolio Committee on International Relations and Cooperation, on 9 September 2013, published an extensive report in the ATC on the role of Parliament in treaty-making processes. The matters raised and recommendations made affected both Houses and required discussion by the JRC of the 5th Parliament.

Parliament’s international relations policy and the PGIR
Consideration could be given in the 5th Parliament to updating the international relations policy, while simultaneously focusing on the functioning of the PGIR and its substructures.

The Chairperson confirmed with Members if they were satisfied with the legacy issues.  Members had no concerns about the issues outlined.

The Chairperson thanked the Members for their participation.

The meeting was adjourned.
 

Download as PDF

You can download this page as a PDF using your browser's print functionality. Click on the "Print" button below and select the "PDF" option under destinations/printers.

See detailed instructions for your browser here.

Share this page: