Committee Report on Mexico study tour

Meeting report

Committee Report on Mexico study tour

The Chairperson tabled the document for consideration.

Ms T Motara (ANC, Gauteng) suggested that the Committee can adopt the report as it is the Committee’s own findings. She suggested that the Research Unit should compare the two study tours as well as the content of the Financial Sector Regulation Bill including contradictions that has been found in the study tours in relation to the content of the Bill. The Bill was very complicated. This purpose of this exercise would be to highlight any challenges and issues with current Bill that it is still going to be referred to the Committee but also differences in the way the two countries have implemented the report. The Standing Committee on Finance was going to adopt the Bill without necessarily taking the Select Committee’s findings into consideration because the Select Committee was not able to submit its report to the Standing Committee on time. It would be our responsibility to take their findings and our findings and use it to process the Bill.

Mr S Mohai (ANC, Free State) agreed with Ms Motara and added that he was under the impression that the Bill will only be adopted in 2017.

Ms Motara expplained that the Standing Committee will be adopting the report today and the Bill will be adopted sometime this week. Once that the Bill is approved by the NA House, it will then be referred to the Select Committee, which will only process the Bill next year. The Committee was supposed to give its findings on the Mexico trip to use in the processing the Bill by the Standing Committee but the Committee had not been able to. The Committee would proces the bill next year. The Committee must take the Standing Committee’s findings and the differences it found in relation to what the Committee found in Mexico and use it when it processes the Bill next year.

The Chairperson said the Committee supported the report as is with the few amendments that must be added. He added that the Standing Committee on Finance was at an advantage as it dealt with the Bill for a lengthy period before going to the UK. In comparison, the Committee dealt with the Bill for 55 minutes in a briefing and then when to Mexico. That was a huge difference. The Standing Committee had nearly two years to deal with the Bill. The Committee would deal with the Bill in the 2017 in the first term.

The Chairperson noted that the tabling of the budget was on 22 February 2017 and this would be accompanied by various processes. In between, the Committee will have to deal with the Bill and that will be a challenging

 Mr Mohai agreed with the proposal made by Ms Motara. He asked whether the Research Unit had any useful material which could be shared with the Committee in order to make sound input on the Bill.

The Chairperson said that the report will inform the legacy of the next Select Committee which will exist after them.

Ms Motara proposed that the Bill be processed “very thoroughly” and urged the Committee to make use of resource documents, articles and other materials. She emphasised that the Committee needed to look at the Bill with fresh eyes as it may spot something that the Standing Committee had missed. 

The Chairperson agreed with the proposal and added that before Parliament rises the Management team of the Committee needed to meet to look at the first term programme and incorporate what Ms Motara had said. The processing of this Bill will not be in done in two weeks and the Committee will go through it clause by clause because it affected every person in the country that’s how serious it is

The Chairperson asked Members if they had any other issues to raise.

Ms Motara advised Members to follow the Committee’s programme as the Programming Committee is yet to finalise the schedule.

The meeting was adjourned.