Committee Annual Performance Plan 2021/22

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Transport

26 January 2021
Chairperson: Mr M Zwane (ANC)
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Meeting Summary

Video: Portfolio Committee on Transport, 26 January 2021

The Portfolio Committee on Transport convened its first virtual meeting in 2021 to review the work done by the Committee during the past year and amend the Committee quarterly outcomes for its 2021/22 Annual Performance Plan.

After a presentation by the Committee Content Advisor on the Annual Performance Plan, Members were asked to make their inputs for readjusting the priorities. Public transport subsidies, scholar transport, formalisation of the taxi industry, transport access for people with disabilities, expediting the National Road Traffic Amendment Bill and Road Accident Fund Amendment Bill, taxi recapitalisation programme under performance, North West Transport Department intervention, Moloto Corridor Project, long queues at the borders and its economic impact on the country, Covid-19 funding for taxi owners, state of the railways, ensuring sufficient personal protective equipment for taxis were raised as pressing concerns.

During the discussion, there was consensus that Members needed greater communication between the Department and the Committee, particularly the Director-General, so that Members were aware of the Department’s legislative agenda, plans and latest developments. Due to lockdown, Members suggested having a contact person that Committee members could reach out to in each of the Department entities for their oversight queries. Members also expressed concern about the delay in submission of presentations by Department entities to enable the Committee to prepare for these meetings

Meeting report

Committee Annual Performance Plan
Adv Alma Nel, Committee Content Advisor, gave a briefing on the Committee’s strategic review planning, the purpose and methodology for this workshop session as well as Parliament's priorities with oversight as its first policy priority and public involvement the second.

Adv Nel noted the two reasons for the Committee not obtaining its 2020/21 targets included COVID-19 lockdown regulations and travel restrictions as well as the reduced number of meetings due to Parliament's limits on virtual meeting slots. She noted the proposed amendments for the Committee’s targets for 2021/22.

The four Strategic Objectives of the Committee are:
- Quality Administration of the Committee
- Quality Oversight over the Department and its Entities
- Effective processing of Bills to deliver quality Legislation
- Due consideration of all public input received on matters for consideration before the Committee.

The key administrative objectives, oversight areas and key engagements for 2019-24 were listed.

Adv Nel identified the Committee’s concerns which included safety, reliability and affordability of transport in the country, Driving Licence Card Account (DLCA), and taxi industry challenges.

The Committee empowerment and capacity building programmes would provide Members with opportunities to deal with technical aspects of legislation more effectively. Those opportunities included:
- Training programmes by outside experts and from internal Committee capacity
- Workshops/seminars with experts
- Conference attendance
- Study tours

- Webinars that are free to attend during the Covid-19 lockdown will continue to be proposed for 2021/22

The legislative programme for the Committee included:
- Civil Aviation Amendment Bill [B 44 – 2018]
- Economic Regulation of Transport Bill [B 1 – 2020]
- National Road Transport Amendment Bill [B7 – 2020]
- Transport Appeal Tribunal Amendment Bill [B8 – 2020]

The first term Committee Programme was outlined by the Committee Secretary who stated that there would be a great deal of flexibility to readjust this programme.

Discussion
Mr C Hunsinger (DA) asked to add three elements to the strategic plan. Given COVID-19 restrictions meant that Members were not able to physically attend meetings, he believed that his proposals would enhance efficiency and improve effectiveness.

Firstly, he said that there needs to be greater communication alignment between the Department and the Committee. Members need to be notified when something is to be launched or announced and not to learn of it from social media or other news platforms. Currently, there is a lack of communication between the two. He suggested that Members could even get notices on their WhatsApp.

Secondly, the communications and notices that the Department of Transport (DoT) send out related to transport do not include Committee Members. For instance, the invitation for public participation was not communicated to Members. The Committee needs to be added to the DoT chain of communication.

Thirdly, Members should have access to a contact person at each of the DoT entities for Members to perform their oversight roles. The lockdown means that Members are invariably being affected in performing their oversight roles. Having such a person to communicate in each of the portfolio entities would be greatly beneficial.

Mr L Mangcu (ANC) appreciated the Committee Content Advisor’s effort in putting together the presentation.
He noted the late or non-submission of requested information by the Department is well-documented. The Committee does not want to be surprised should the Department come up with a piece of legislation that Members had not known anything about.

Mr Mangcu raised transport subsidisation as a matter for a meeting. He expressed his curiosity about the North West Department of Transport which had been under section 100(1)(b) national administration since 2018. He believed that the Committee should pay more attention to that Provincial Departments and suggested DoT provide the Committee a detailed report on the interventions that had taken place and what is happening on the ground.

He urged the Committee and DoT to focus on the Moloto Rail Project as the project significantly affects the local community. As a result, the community is said to be very vociferous about it.

Mr Mangcu remained doubtful if much would be achieved with the Drivers Licence Card Account (DLCA) project. He noted the long queues at the borders and wanted to understand its impact on transport and the country’s economy. He requested that DoT provide a report on the current situation at the borders, especially Lebombo and the Musina [Beitbridge] border posts.

Mr Mangcu commented on the mediums used to advertise Bills by the Committee as Committee Members were often bypassed in the process. For instance, he noted that there was no response from the public on the National Road Traffic Amendment Bill according to his knowledge. He asked if it had been advertised and if the public hearing had been held.

Mr K Sithole (IFP) said that no reference was made to sub-committees in the presentation.

Mr Sithole was uncertain of the government department in charge of scholar transport. There are a lot of challenges going on with scholar transport and he was uncertain what the Committee could do to assist.

He expressed concern about the DoT entities as he felt that some entities purposely delayed submitting their presentations well before the meeting. He asked what measures could be put in place to monitor this to ensure that presentations were submitted in time.

Mr Sithole asked since the S’hambaSonke road maintenance project was run by both the Departments of Public Works and Transport, which Department was the implementer?

Mr Sithole expressed concern about the formalisation of the taxi industry since no information had been provided to the Committee. Members only received information on this matter from the media. Members had not ever attended a conference on the matter.

Mr Sithole addressed the Chairperson and pointed out that the Committee did not have a person in charge of making media statements. Media statements by the Portfolio Committee and the Ministry should be made separately.

Mr L McDonald (ANC) read Chapter 4 of the Constitution which stipulated the rights and privileges of the Members of Parliament. He found the House Chairperson’s dictating manner on the programmes of the committees very concerning [i.e. committees were not allowed to schedule meetings for two weeks as Members had to attend training]. As much as training is critical, he felt that House Chairperson had broken the National Assembly rules by dictating the pace at which the Committee may work. Rule 167 states that the general power of the Committee allows it to dictate its own arrangements at any date and any time including during recess. He expressed concern at the number of serious legislative matters that had to be addressed that affect ordinary South African lives. The non-functioning rail system is one of them.

Mr McDonald observed that a large number of taxi owners had not received COVID funding as had been discussed during a committee meeting last year and this needs to be addressed.

Mr McDonald highlighted the importance of ensuring sufficient personal protective equipment (PPE) for the taxi industry.

Mr McDonald agreed with his colleagues that it is strange that Members had to find relevant information about this Department on Twitter as the Ministry is not sharing much information with the Committee.

Mr McDonald noted the high number of road accidents during the festive season. This gave the Committee reason to prioritise a discussion on this topic so that Committee can also review and add to the National Road Traffic Amendment Bill before it.

Mr McDonald urged the Committee to fast track the Road Accident Fund Amendment Bill and asked for the way forward on it. There are serious challenges at the Fund that require expedited attention.

Mr T Mabhena (DA) commented on scholar transport and mentioned the meeting with the Ministry of Police. He also commended the Committee’s 43 out of 47 meetings that it had achieved.

Mr Mabhena commented on the public transport subsidy and was uncertain whether a report on the issue would ever reach the Committee. He suggested this Committee reach out to relevant stakeholders to gather more useful information.

Mr Mabhena noted that the taxi recapitalisation programme has been under-performing. This needed input.

Ms N Nolutshungu (EFF) noted her concern about the term 'universal access to transport' for people. The term was rather broad as scholar transport also touches on the universal access to transport. Thus she proposed that transport for people with disabilities should be highlighted.

Ms Nolutshungu emphasised the importance to prioritise and include the needs of their constituencies. To do that, there is need to increase accessibility to the DoT Director-General. Issues such as scholar transport can only be resolved by the Director-General. Therefore the DoT Director-General not being accessible or not returning calls and messages is not helping the cause and should be addressed.

She agreed that a session on Road Accident Fund needed to be added to the Committee Programme.

The Chairperson reminded Members that the purpose of the meeting was to devise a strategy on how to approach and resolve issues that had not been resolved the previous year. He said that arranging a meeting with the Ministry would not necessarily be part of the programme. Mr Hunsinger’s points also needed to be dealt with in a separate meeting as well as Mr Sithole’s input on late submission of the presentations of DoT entities.

Overall, the Chairperson agreed with Members’ inputs. The objective of the programme was to fix and prioritise certain matters. Although according to Adv Nel's presentation, it seems to suggest that Members will be attending more meetings this year. It may also take more time away from Members doing their oversight work. However, he reminded Members that it would be very encouraging to see more oversight work being done on virtual platforms such as Zoom which may even save Members’ time.

Committee Content Advisor response
Adv Nel appreciated the Members’ inputs and agreed that the  Moloto Corridor Project, Road Accident Fund (RAF), and the universal access to transport should be added to the Committee Programme.

She explained that DoT and the Committee had to wait for the Finance Minister as well as other government departments to make more inputs on scholar transport before more information on the matter is available.

Adv Nel agreed with Members that more efficient as well as transparent communication between DoT and the Committee is needed. She added that she is always available on WhatsApp for Members’ queries and would respond to Members’ questions. She indicated the link which was available to Members on the latest proposed operationalisation of the formalisation of the taxi industry.

Adv Nel replied that most issues raised by Mr Hunsinger could be resolved after the Chairperson has engaged with the Minister.

Adv Nel said that she would add the transport subsidy issue to the Committee programme.

Adv Nel noted the request for information on the North West Transport Department which was placed under administration.

Adv Nel explained to Members the delay in issuing drivers’ licences under the Driving License Card Account (DLCA). Due to COVID-19 restrictions, people had significant challenges in doing online registrations. There was a backlog in issuing driver’s licence cards dating back to June/July in 2020. Also the printer was out of service and ran out of ink in June last year. Now the printer ink had been replaced, she hoped that the process of issuing cards would be back on track.

Adv Nel explained to the Committee that the Cross-Border Road Transport Agency (C-BRTA) links to COVID-19 testing on the borders. Hence, DoT is working with the Department of Home Affairs on the matter. The main concern for DoT and Home Affairs before the festive season was ensuring COVID-19 testing.

Adv Nel replied that the Committee does not have sub-committee programmes as yet. Sub-committee programmes will depend on what the House Chairperson says as well as the invitees whom the Committee planned to invite to the meeting.

Adv Nel clarified that the S’hambaSonke Project was a duo project run by both Departments of Transport and Public Works and Infrastructure. She recognised the value of the road maintenance project in facilitating community engagement and help participants in training and education. The Provincial Departments play a major role in the project. She agreed that there was need to get more clarity on the project as there are financial implications to running the project.

Adv Nel said that she would send the link to the taxi industry discussion documents to Members.

Adv Nel agreed with Mr Sithole’s view that Members should be made aware of the Ministry announcements prior to them becoming public knowledge on social media and other news platforms. She will speak to the Ministry about that.

Adv Nel agreed with Mr McDonald’s passionate view on Chapter 4 on parliamentary committee powers since it is something that she advocates for. There is limitation what the Committee can do because government controls the purse strings, but she was certain that the Committee Chairperson could find a way to attend to Mr McDonald’s view.

Adv Nel said DoT had noted the growing concern about lack of personal protective equipment (PPE) on public transport. She would consider adding a presentation on Department expenditure on PPE and such line items. She noted reports about people not wearing masks on taxis. She said taxis said they do not have the funds for this. In America there are mask dispensers on buses which she believed was something for South Africa to consider.

Adv Nel said that the Committee will have a session on the Road Accident Fund.

In response to Mr Mangcu asking if any more inputs from Members were required, the Chairperson said that further inputs may be submitted in writing.

The Committee Secretary added that from the discussion, one could foresee that there needed to be much flexibility in arranging committee meetings this year. She suggested the Committee review its programme as often as possible.

The Chairperson adjourned the meeting.

 

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