Election of Chairperson; Committee Programme

Meeting report

Election of the Chairperson
The Committee Secretary called for nominations for the position of the Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Mineral Resources.

Nkosi Z Mandela (ANC) nominated Mr Sahlulele Luzipho to be the Chairperson.

Ms Z Faku (ANC) seconded the nomination.

Mr Luzipho was elected as the Chairperson.

The Committee Secretary read out National Assembly Rule 129(2) on the functions of the Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee: “The Chairperson subject to other provisions of these rules and the direction of the Committee, (a) presides over the meetings of the Committee, (b) may act in any matter in behalf of and in the best interests of the Committee when it is not practical to arrange a meeting of the Committee to discuss that matter if the matter concerns, (1) a request by a person to give evidence or make oral presentation to the Committee, (2) any other request to the Committee, (3) the initiation of any steps or decision necessary for the Committee to perform its function or exercise its powers, (c) performs the functions tasks and duties, and exercise the powers that the Committee resolutions of the assembly and legislation may assign to the Chairperson, in the event of the equality of votes in any question before the Committee, must exercise the casting vote in addition to the Chairperson’s vote as a Member”.

The Chairperson thanked the Committee Secretary for conducting the election. He requested that all Members of the Committee to introduce themselves.

Mr J Lorimer (DA), Mr H Schmidt (DA), Mr Julius Malema (EFF), Ms N Mnisi (ANC), Ms M Mafolo (ANC), Nkosi Z Mandela (ANC), Ms N Mdaka (ANC), Mr S Jafta (AIC), Ms Z Faku (ANC), Mr M Matlala (ANC) introduced themselves and most of them said they were looking forward to working with all the committee members.

Committee Programme
The Chairperson asked the Committee Secretary to go through the draft programme so that Members could deliberate on what was contained in it.

Ms Ayanda Boss, the Committee Secretary, said that the draft programme was for the next two weeks and it dealt with the budget process. They had received a letter from the House Chairperson asking that they deal with the budget within two weeks starting from next week. The committee report on the department budget would be adopted on the 11 July. In the current meeting they were going to consider and adopt the programme if possible. Next week the Committee Secretary and the Researcher would give a briefing to the Committee on the budget process. Thereafter, the Department of Mineral Resources would brief the Committee on its Strategic Plan (SP) and Annual Performance Plan (APP).

The Committee Secretary noted that their allocated day for meetings was Wednesdays but they had also included Thursdays and Fridays due to time constraints. On Thursday, 3 July 2014 they would receive a briefing from the government entities under the Department. On the 9 July 2014, there would be a briefing from other entities. And on Friday 11 July, they would adopt their report so that it would be published in the Announcements, Tablings, Committee Reports (ATC) the following week.

The Chairperson said that Members could comment on the draft programme but should note the deadline for the submission of the committee report on the department budget as already indicated.

Mr Schmidt said that there was no problem with the programme the way it was because it was directed by Parliament. He asked how they could make some input in due time as to the proposed agenda going forward because they were expecting a more extensive programme where they could determine what the issues were. Mr Schmidt also asked when the budget debate would take place - to which there was not a conclusive answer

Mr Malema asked what the direction was that should be taken or who should be contacted if there were issues that needed to be debated by the Committee.  The Committee should not only hear briefings without debating critical issues.

Committee members explained that the aim of this meeting was the election of the Chairperson which was done.  The Committee would hear briefings from the Department and its entities and stakeholders and those issues would be interrogated by this Committee while debates took place in the House.  The adoption of the Committee programme was proposed and seconded.

The Chairperson said that the budget debate started from 15 July 2014, but any Committee member could, through the Committee Secretary, submit any issue that should be addressed by the Committee.  Any issue submitted would be taken into consideration, but the two weeks preceding the budget debate would primarily relate to the upcoming debate.  It was a draft programme that could be changed, but it also needed to be properly prioritised.

Mr Malema said he referred to matters that needed the Committee’s attention that could perhaps be afforded a day to deal with and the explanations offered were not conclusive.  The Committee Secretary should outline the procedure and this was the Committee’s first meeting and could not be just to elect the Chairperson.

The Chairperson said he already answered Mr Malema’s question. 

Mr Malema said he accepted the explanation.

The Chairperson thanked the Committee and said he was looking forward to working with them in achieving the Committee’s mandate.

The meeting was adjourned.