Election of Acting Chairperson; Second Term Committee Programme

Meeting report

Election of an acting Chairperson
Mr Moses Manele, Committee Secretary, informed the Committee that the Chairperson of the Committee has been booked off, and in terms of the rules for the purposes of the meeting Members had to elect someone to chair the proceedings.

Mr J Mthethwa (KwaZulu-Natal, ANC) nominated Mr S Mthimunye (ANC) to be the Acting Chairperson of the Committee.

Ms T Wana (Eastern Cape, ANC). seconded the nomination of Mr Mthimunye.

The nomination of Mr Mthimunye went unchallenged and the Committee Secretary welcomed Mr Mthimunye to take the Chair.

Opening Remarks
The Acting Chairperson asked whether Members wanted to make some additions to the agenda of the meeting.

Ms G Oliphant (Northern Cape, ANC) said there were a lot of issues they were behind with until the end of May, maybe they should put in an item that will indicate when they can meet to deal with those things

Mr Mthethwa said time and again this Committee has developed a bad reputation recently and the comments they had received from the Chief Whip were not very good. He would like it put on the agenda to first ask the Committee Secretary to give them the Committee Programme and the timeframe to catch up if there is any issue they need to catch up with. It is very bad if one is serving on a Committee and that Committee totally collapses. He hoped the Committee Secretary would be able to come up with something so that when they meet in the Chief Whips' Forum he, (Mr Mthethwa) could show that the Committee is up and running.

Mr D Ximbi (Western Cape, ANC) said they were not behind on anything in terms of the programme of the Committee, just that the Chairperson of the Committee was not around. But nevertheless, there was a programme in front of them which would explain exactly what they were going to do in this term, and they should afford the Committee Secretary the opportunity to explain to them what that programme entails.

Ms Oliphant said she agreed with the other Members, but the Committee Secretary must check in the programme whether the meetings of the Select Committee on Petitions and the Select Committee on Justice do not clash with the meetings of this Committee between Tuesdays and Wednesday.

The Acting Chairperson said he appreciated the concerns from Members with regard to the lull in activities of the Committee since the Chairperson of the Committee was absent. But the purpose of this meeting was to look at the revised second term Committee Programme. The revised Committee programme would answer some of the questions posed by Ms Oliphant in terms of the work of the Committee that is behind.
Also, the issue that the Committee suffered a credibility crisis going forward, as Members of the Committee, especially those of the ruling party, they need to work towards reclaiming the credibility of the Committee and only by show of hard work could they do that. And they had intervened.  He and Mr Ximbi, through the management committee, had joint management meetings where they critically took matters of this Committee seriously, and filled in where necessary the two Committees of Justice and also of Petitions.

Ms Wana said she was committed to many Committees, such as the Committee on Intelligence and serious issues are discussed in that Committee. The Chairperson should understand that if she comes to a meeting of this Committee she will just report so as to make up a quorum because she is needed in some of other Committees.

Mr Mthethwa said as much as they understood Ms Wana's commitment to other Committees, especially the Intelligence Committee, but whatever she is doing it must be per arrangement, not take it for granted that they knew she is at the Committee on Intelligence. It must be per arrangement, which is why they had requested the programme so that each Member could look at the programme and try to balance his or her schedule in terms of meetings.

Mr Mthethwa said they should look at who are the real Members of this Committee because when he looked at that list, which will change at the end of the day, it listed Mr Mohapi and Mr Michalakis who both come from the Free State, Ms Engelbrecht from Gauteng, Mr Chetty and Mr Mthethwa (KZN), and alternate Mr Khawula. He asked why there are 2 Members from KwaZulu-Natal. In North West there is Ms Mokwele, and in Northern Cape there is Mr Stock which does not show whether he was still a Member of this Committee or is an alternate member. Mr Stock is only listed as an ANC member. Therefore, the Committee Secretary should deal with this as a matter of urgency so that they could reflect what is real in the Committee so as to move forward.

The Acting Chairperson asked the Committee Secretary to go to the office of the Chief Whip to find out exactly who the Members of this Committee that were ATC’d, get the latest ATC list of the Members of the Committee. They would have to have an item on this issue on their next meeting.

Consideration and adoption of revised Second Term Committee Programme
Mr Manele said there was no disorder or non-functionality of this Committee, except to say when they were dealing with the negotiating mandate on governance framework they could not deal with the negotiating mandate and since then there was this perception that this Committee is not functioning. In terms of his observation, since Mr Mohapi has been put off there was that impression that has been created that the Committee is dysfunctional.

In summary Ms Oliphant had said the Committee Secretary must isolate outstanding issues of the Committee. In this regard there were two things: One is legislation and intervention. Members would recall that on legislation they were supposed to deal with negotiating mandate on the 17 but did not. In order to address that problem, next week they are going to deal with the negotiating mandate on governance framework and special delegates from provinces have been invited. With regard to intervention, there were two interventions from KwaZulu-Natal that would expire on 6 June 2018. In order to address that problem, next week, Tuesday 15 May 2018, the KZN MEC was expected to brief the Committee on those interventions.
Secondly, in terms of the programme the Committee was proposing an oversight visit to KZN on the 24 and 25 May 2018. Administratively, the support staff is prepared to work over the weekend to write a report so that on the 22 May 2018 they adopt the report.

In terms of his assessment on the key issues before the Committee, this Committee doesn't have a crisis. Through consultation with the leadership of the Committee they've managed to ensure that whatever is key for this Committee is on the programme of the Committee.

Mr Manele said the other issue that is key to the Committee is the Annual Performance Plan (APP) and Budget Vote of the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (CoGTA). In terms of policy debate CoGTA this year is the only one that has been accommodated in the House for policy debate. Through consultation with Mr Michalakis there was a request that, initially they wanted CoGTA to brief them on 8 May 2018, but received an instruction from the office of the Chief Whip that due to local government week they need to postpone that. Then the Minister made a request that they should schedule for 22 May 2018. In summary in terms of budget votes, and in terms of legislation and interventions they had tabled a programme for the Committee.

Mr Manele said the last key issue is the Koi-San Bill, and Members would recall that last year there was a resolution taken that they need to conduct public hearings in all the provinces. But through consultation with senior managers of Parliament there was a realisation that this Bill is a section 76 bill, meaning that in terms of the Constitution, the provincial legislatures have the responsibility to conduct public hearings. He had prepared an advert for the Chairperson to see that administratively they had put back the Koi-San Bill.

In the week of 28 to 31 May 2018, they will expect provincial briefings from respective Members of provinces in the Committee. On 12 June 2018, they will expect negotiating mandates from all the provinces. And on the 26 June 2018, they will expect final mandate. With the advert where they will be calling members of the public to make submissions they intend placing adverts in all national newspapers, and the deadline is 5 June 2018, so that this Committee could get inputs from the public with regards to the Koi-San Bill.

The Committee adopted the Second Term Committee Programme.

The meeting was adjourned.