Economic Development Budget Review and Recommendations Report

Meeting report

The Chairperson said the Committee could always submit the other reports regarding the public entities later.  Committee meetings would need to move to Friday due to Tuesday’s amended parliamentary sittings.

Budget Review and Recommendations Report (BRRR)

Discussion
Mr S Tleane (ANC) supported page 1 of the BRRR. The description of the core functions of the Economic Development Department (EDD) had been properly captured. The Committee was happy with the highlights of the performance of the EDD on pages 8 and 9. Mr Tleane was happy with page 22 and that it captured everything correctly. He supported parts a) and b) under recommendations on page 25. He was concerned that the paragraph about Corporate Social Investment (CSI) was missing and it should be in the report. The appreciation paragraph was good.

Mr I Pikanini (ANC) was happy with page 2 of the BRRR. Page 5 had captured the issues raised during 2013/14. The BRR report was well written. The co-ordination of the EDD had been good at unblocking blockages. The Committee did a good job at monitoring and overseeing the EDD. He supported the CSI paragraph be placed under observations.

Mr A Cele (ANC) stated that under recommendations on page 25, a) and b) should be left out.

Ms C Matsimbi (ANC) commented that page 4 had been well captured. The issues on page 25 captured the Committee’s sentiment and feedback.

The Chairperson was happy with page 1 and page 2, it was well supported. The Chairperson was happy with pages7 and 8 as they were past recommendations. From page 10-21, it had been set out well and could be supported as it was already provided in the report. The Committee was happy with page 23 other than one amendment. Under Social Accords and Youth Accords, “the Minister was expected to report” should be changed to “the Minister is expected to report” on page 23. The Chairperson felt that the recommendations a) and b) under page 25 should remain as they pointed to stronger internal audit structures and a push for a cleaner audit.

CSI was put under recommendations, but not under observations. Many companies in SA spent the CSI money ad hoc; it should be directed towards meeting the country’s social needs. CSI should be structured and spent in an organised manner. The CSI clause would be put under observations in the report.

The BRRR has been adopted with those amendments.

Adoption of minutes
Committee Minutes dated 8 September

The Chairperson tabled the document for consideration.

Members were satisfied with its contents approved it without amendments.

Committee Minutes dated 13 October 2015

The Chairperson tabled the document for consideration.

Ms D Rantho (ANC) commented that the causes of expenditure were accurately shown in the minutes.

Mr Pikinini was happy to get statisticians in to monitor the use of outsourced consultants as stated in the minutes.

Mr Tleane stated that on pg 2, it should say more than root causes for the type of expenditure discussed.

The Chairperson felt that the issues were not captured correctly in these minutes. The minutes needed more flesh and would be revised for reviewing by the Committee Secretary.

The minutes were not adopted

Committee Minutes dated 15 October 2015

The Chairperson tabled the document for consideration.

The Chairperson felt that what was said by the Committee in the minutes was quite sparse, the discussion needed more flesh. The Secretary for the Committee would revise these minutes too.

The minutes were not adopted.

The meeting was adjourned.