Embrace Dignity Petition Report; Committee Reports

Meeting report

Opening Remarks
The Chairperson welcomed all present in the meeting. He said there were 5 items on the agenda of the meeting. He asked for any mover for the adoption of the agenda.

Mr S Mthimunye (Mpumalanga, ANC) moved for the adoption of the agenda.
 
Ms G Oliphant (Northern Cape, ANC) seconded the move.

The Committee adopted the agenda.

Apologies
Mr Nkanyiso Mkhize, Committee Secretary read the apologies.

Embrace Dignity Petition Report
The Chairperson said this report was previously dealt with by the Committee but there was a query that it was not done properly. They should go through the report page by page.

Mr Mthimunye moved for the adoption of the report.

Mr M Mthethwa seconded the move.

Mr M Mohapi (Free State, ANC) said they need to get clarity on the specific query because to leave things as they were would create a wrong precedent in future.

The Chairperson said they had a quorum in that meeting, but the DA Members left in the middle of the meeting. The minutes were adopted after the DA Members left. The DA challenged that adoption of minutes from the office of the Chief Whip. The Committee was about to table those minutes to the House but were withdrawn because of the challenge from the DA as Ms B Engelbrecht (DA, Gauteng).said they did not have a quorum when they adopted those minutes. Therefore, the Chief Whip instructed the Committee to re-adopt the minutes.

Mr Mohapi said based on what was clarified by the Chairperson that it was very clear that even as a Committee they need to explore their internal processes first and they have the Whip of the Committee to attend to any Member of the Committee who might have been aggrieved because it is not right to go to the Chief Whip without exploring the internal processes of the Committee. It should be remembered that they were a Committee of the NCOP and have the autonomy in terms of running the internal processes of the Committee.
 
The Chairperson agreed with Mr Mohapi.

The Committee adopted the report with no corrections.

Report on Study Tour to Sweden
Mr Mthethwa moved for the adoption of the report.

Ms T Wana (Eastern Cape, ANC) seconded the move.

The Committee adopted the report with no corrections.

Progress Reports on Executive Undertakings made by the Minister of Higher Education and Training
Mr Mthethwa moved for the adoption of the report.

Ms Wana seconded the move.

The Committee adopted the report with no corrections.

Progress Reports on Executive Undertakings made by the Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development
Ms Wana moved for the adoption of the report.

Mr Mthethwa seconded the move.

The Committee adopted the report with no corrections.

Adoption of Minutes

2 May 2018
The Chairperson said they were re-adopting these minutes because there was a query from Ms Engelbrecht through the Chief Whip. Therefore, they were sent back for re-adoption.

Mr Mthimunye proposed that since the minutes are coming for the second time before the Committee can they consider them as already read and just adopt them.

Mr Mthimunye moved for the adoption of minutes.

Mr M Mthethwa (KwaZulu-Natal, ANC) seconded the move.

The Committee adopted the minutes with no corrections.

16 and 23 May 2018
Minutes of 16 and 23 May 2018 were adopted unamended.

Announcements
Mr Mkhize said on the issue of the study tour to Ghana the Committee was still waiting for a response from the Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO), and it will give feedback to the Chairperson.

Ms Oliphant asked what is happening in terms of passports because she still awaited her passport.

The Chairperson said the support staff would look after the issue of passports and visas for Members once the response was received from DIRCO. 

The meeting adjourned.