Election of Chairperson

Meeting report

Opening remarks
The Committee Secretary and Acting Chairperson opened the meeting and introduced members of the Committee support team.  He explained that it was his role, in terms of Rule 153 of the National Council of Provinces (NCOP), to call for nominations for a Chairperson for the Committee. He would call for a seconder and then ask the nominee if he or she were prepared to accept the nomination. If there were no further nominations, he would announce that person duly appointed without an election. If there were further nominations, he would proceed to an election.

The Acting Chairperson asked for a nomination for the position of Chairperson of the Select Committee on Security and Social Justice.

Ms M Mmola (ANC; Mpumalanga) nominated Ms S Shaikh (ANC; Limpopo) as Chairperson of the Security and Justice Committee. Mr A Gxoyiya (ANC; Northern Cape) seconded the nomination. There were no further nominations.

Ms Shaikh accepted the nomination and was duly declared Chairperson of the Committee.

The Chairperson thanked Members for the nomination. She was deeply humbled by the nomination. She noted that there were many government portfolios that the Committee had to oversee and it was a daunting task. She read out the portfolios: Police, Justice and Correctional Services; Defence and Military Veterans; Home Affairs; International Relations and Co-Operation.

The Chairperson informed Members that their responsibility, in terms of the Constitution, was that of oversight, law making and public participation. She was sure that the Committee would work as a team to ensure that it was able to fulfil its mandate as outlined in the Constitution and to ensure that it had proper accountability. The Committee was sitting in a strategic position to ensure that government functioned with accountability so that public institutions operated efficiently and also with accountability. There were also issues around corruption. Clearly the Committee had a daunting task ahead of it. She expected that with the support of the support team, she would put together a programme and the first task would be to ensure that the Members were capacitated well enough to operate as a Committee and to conduct the various functions that it was mandated to do.

Concluding remarks
The Chairperson noted, in conclusion, that she was deeply humbled by the nomination.

The meeting was adjourned.