Committee Programme and State Owned Companies status reports

Meeting report

Ms D Rantho (ANC) was elected as Acting Chairperson following the promotion of the former Chairperson, Mr Ben Martins, to Deputy Minister.

Chairperson's Status reports on State Owned Companies
The Acting Chairperson noted that the Minister of Public Enterprises had ruled that no payout would be made to the former Chief Executive Officer of Eskom, Mr Molefe, since he had resigned. 

The Acting Chairperson  noted that most of the State Owned Companies (SOCs) were struggling to perform their mandates. The Committee would therefore have to assist the SOCs in doing what is expected of them, by having regular meetings with them, and quarterly monitoring would be important, for annual reporting would be too extensive an exercise and it would then be too difficult to correct problems at that late stage.

She noted that the Department of Public Enterprises had not submitted its Annual Performance Plans; this Department had frequently been late in submitting reports in the past.

The Acting Chairperson asked that Members read the Denton Report because it speaks about the activities at Eskom.

The Acting Chairperson spoke to housekeeping issues. This Committee had a problem with various meetings being postponed, because either the Minister or Department was regularly not available. She asked that the Committee Secretary, the Minister and Parliamentary Liaison Officer should engage regularly to prevent postponements of meetings. The programme of the portfolio committee should be made available to the Minister's Office well on time.

Draft programme: Consideration and adoption
A Committee Section official presented the draft programme but said that it was subject to change, according to the conditions. He outlined the proposals (see final programme for full details). Briefings were to be given in this term by:
- the Department of Public Enterprises (DPE), on its Annual Performance Plan and budget
- Denel on the disciplinary action involving former executive officers
- a joint meeting with the Portfolio Committee on Energy was planned for 31 May
- Eskom on the nuclear procurement plan, the findings and recommendations by the Denton Report, and action taken to implement the recommendations.
- a report on performance and governance of mines
- Safcol on progress made in the diversification strategy and turning around the company.
- SA express on the implementation of the Turnaround Strategy.

Oversight visits would be made, to Alexkor, Safcol and South African Express.

He noted that the Select Committee would be meeting also with the DPE, and this Committee would be invited to send representatives to the same meeting.

Discussion
The Acting Chairperson noted that the Committee would, prior to the meeting with Alexkor, need to be updated by the Department of Rural Development and Land Reform and the Department of Agriculture on the progress made, as it had been suggested that these departments could assist Alexkor in the transfer of the monies to the beneficiaries.

Mr E Marais (DA) stated that he had previously served on the Portfolio Committee on Mineral Resources and when that Committee had visited Alexkor all the issues were placed on the table. At the last meeting, the Minister was in attendance and stated that she would speed up the whole process. However, Mr Marais stated that if no progress had been made, he would not be willing to join this Committee and face the community after seven years in which nothing had effectively been achieved.

Mr R Tseli (ANC) made a proposal that the entities and the DPE should give the Committee updates and progress reports on all issues raised in the past.

The Acting Chairperson noted that the Committee had applied for permission to visit Alexkor in this term, but this request had been declined, as had happened in fact several times previously, and reiterated that the Department of Rural Development and Land Reform should be asked to meet with the Committee to advise whether money had by now been paid over or was close to being paid. She did not understand what happened to the beneficiary register created in around 2011 or 2012.

The Acting Chairperson also reminded the Committee that the Department of Public Enterprises and the Minister had been asked to brief the Committee and display the shareholder compact of every entity. Obviously, commercial information could not be requested as it was sensitive,  but the Committee had now been waiting to see the shareholder compacts for over 12 months.

The Chairperson noted that most committees had been granted permission for a study tour to another African country.

She asked that changes be notified and made on the programme.

Adoption of minutes
The Committee adopted the minutes of 8 March 2017.

Other business: Correspondence
The Chairperson noted the electronic message received from Ms N Mazzone (DA), concerning the fact that Eskom would be proceeding with a nuclear deal, and said that this would be discussed on 31 May 2017. Meantime she would acknowledge the letter and note that it had been formally tabled to the Committee. Ms Mazzone had, along with her apology, noted that Mr Marais would brief her on the decisions of the Committee.

The Chairperson tabled a letter from Ms Zolisa Zwakala, from the Auditor-General South Africa (AGSA), informing the Committee that AGSA had been unable to make any comment on the Department of Public Enterprises Annual Performance Plans as these had not been provided to the AGSA. AGSA would thus not be in a position to give the Committee a report on the findings.

She commented that her personal opinion was that the Committee would have a problem if the APP of the DPE or any of the entities was submitted after due date, and failed to meet their target dates. It was not acceptable that the Department of Public Enterprises and the majority of the entities are not submitting their reports and APPs to the Auditor-General on the due date, because it was viewed as undermining the Auditor-General, which, as an independent institution in terms of the Constitution, needed to be recognised.

Mr Marais suggested that AGSA's letter must be made available to the Minister.

The Acting Chairperson added that since the Committee was due to meet with the DPE in the following week, the Director-General would be asked to submit a report on why the target was not reached, and why the date was not met. The executive authorities of the entities and the Department would no doubt be expecting a performance bonus, but that would not be awarded if they did not perform and she suggested that this Committee should be strict in keeping them in line.

Mr Z Luyenge (ANC) said that performance bonuses had been raised on a number of occasions. SOCs are accountable to the Committee and he fully agreed that no performance bonuses could be awarded to those merely reaching targets; only if they went far beyond targets, and this was something that should be clarified by the Minister.

The Acting Chairperson noted that she had discussed this with the AGSA already, who took the view that it was not within its mandate to determine who should receive performance bonuses but it can make recommendations.

Mr Luyenge suggested that in this case the Committee itself should take a resolution or make a recommendation to parliament, as to what should happen to any Director-General, Department or Minister who had underperformed. These findings should also be referred to the Auditor-General.

Mr N Singh (IFP) raised the issue of Eskom and Oakbay. If the President did not wish to appoint a Commission of Inquiry, it would be difficult for the Committee to interrogate those deals. There had been many conflicting reports in the newspapers. However, it was of prime importance for the Portfolio Committee to investigate these issues, given its mandate. He did not think an ad hoc committee would be necessary.

The Acting Chairperson noted that the Eskom issues could be added to the programme on 31 May 2017.

The meeting was adjourned.