Committee minutes

Meeting report

Adoption of minutes

08 March 2016
The minutes were adopted with amendments.

Matters Arising
The Chairperson noted that the Committee needed to follow up on point d) on page 3: “Follow-up on progress made by Noble Resources (Mpumalanga) since the Committee’s last visit – The company had gone through the first phase of its operations, and production was still insufficient. The Department continues to work with the provincial departments of cooperative governance, economic development as well as the district municipality to ensure that small producers come into the production chain and are supported. A further report on the progress would be brought before the Committee in the 4th quarter of the year. The Minister reported that the the Department of Economic Development (EDD) worked with the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) on assisting the small farmers in the area. Future reports will have the details on this.”

15 March 2016
The minutes were adopted with amendments.

Matters Arising
Ms D Rantho (ANC) sought clarity on whether the Parliamentary Budget Office (PBO) would come before the Committee annually or whenever the Committee needed them.

The Chairperson said the PBO was asked to assist the Committee with its quarterly analysis, so the PBO would come before the Committee quarterly.

Mr P Atkinson (DA) asked for the correction of the venue stated on the minutes: Committee Room V475. Such a room does not exist.

The Chairperson stated that it should be changed to M475. She also asked for clarity and consistency on the minutes in order to avoid confusion. On one set of minutes the Committee Secretary states that he was the Stand-In Committee Secretary and on another set of minutes he states that he is the Committee Secretary.

Mr Atkinson asked where the minutes for February and March were, and whether they had been approved.

The Chairperson asked the Committee Secretary and he said that he would need to check that.

05 April 2016
Mr Atkinson asked for a correction under attendees, it should be Dr M Cardo for the Democratic Alliance, not Mr S Marais.

The Chairperson asked that the Committee Secretary to also state who was absent in the minutes.

The minutes were adopted with that amendment.

12 April 2016
The minutes were adopted with amendments.

23 August 2016
This was a joint meeting with the Portfolio Committee on Trade and Industry.

Mr Atkinson said he was marked as absent however he tendered his apologies. He asked that that be corrected.

Mr S Tleane (ANC) asked about the format in which names were written. The standard practice was that the title, initials and surname of a person came before the comma, not after the comma.
The Committee Secretary explained that that was the new format that Parliament had instructed.

Mr Tleane asked why the Members of the Committee on Trade and Industry were excluded under the attendance section; everyone should be mentioned.

The Chairperson asked whether the names of the supporting staff were meant to appear on the minutes under the new format. She was unhappy with the new format and would raise the issue with the Chair of Chairs.

There was confusion as to which Committee Secretary and which Committee Chairperson “the Chairperson” and the “Committee Secretary” referred to in the minutes, as this was not clarified.

It was agreed that the minutes be revisited at the Committee’s next meeting as there was great confusion.

30 August 2016
Mr Atkinson said he was marked as present however he was not there, he sent in his apologies.

The Chairperson asked for clarity and consistency with regards to the Parliamentary Support Staff section. She wanted it to be clear who is put there and who is not, and she wants the attendance of the Parliamentary Support Staff to be recorded and mentioned in the minutes.

Mr I Pikinini (ANC) suggested that a principle approach be agreed to and applied consistently.

The Chairperson felt that there was information missing on page two, she wanted clarity as to what was said by Statistics South Africa.

Ms D Rantho (ANC) remembered discussing that the methodology used to collect data should consider other areas other than household visits.

Mr Tleane felt that the minutes were not very comprehensive or informative for those who did not attend the meeting.

The Chairperson was uncomfortable with the format and substance of page two. She stated that there needed to be more clarity. It was suggested that the Committee Secretary rewrite pages two and three as they need more substance.

The minutes were deferred to the next meeting.

14 September 2016
The Chairperson pointed out that at the time of the meeting Mr M Vawda was not the Acting DDG so a correction needed to be made.

There was contention over the new format and the titles used in the minutes
The minutes were adopted with amendments.

12 October 2016
Mr Atkinson asked where the minutes were for the meetings held on 11 and 13 October.

The Chairperson stated that the Committee Secretary would be looking at all dates the Committee had meetings in order to ensure that no minutes were skipped.

Mr Tleane asked that the f of the financial in “financial Fiscal Commission” be capitalised. And that r in “2015/16 annual Reports” not be capitalised or both the A and the R be capitalised.

Mr M Cele (ANC) said both he and Mr Pikinini sent apologies to the Committee Secretary; they did not attend the meeting.

The Chairperson stated that she did not think the new format was the problem because some minutes were clear and some not, regardless of the format. She felt that the quality of the minutes depended on how the Committee Secretary was feeling. She asked the Committee Secretary to be more consistent in his work.

The minutes were adopted with amendments.

Matters arising
The Chairperson stated that the Committee needed to follow up on the study of transfers from the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) and its possible impact on the Small, Medium and Micro Enterprises (SMMEs) and entrepreneurship in general. She asked whether the Committee gave the Financial Fiscal Commission a timeframe for this.

25 October 2016
The minutes were deferred to the next meeting as some sections of the minutes, specifically “Presentations” section, were not very clear and lacked substance. The Committee asked that they be rewritten.

The meeting was adjourned.