Committee minutes

Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development

16 February 2021
Chairperson: Nkosi ZM Mandela (ANC)
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Meeting Summary

Video: Portfolio Committee on Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development, 16 February 2021
President Cyril Ramaphosa: 2021 State of the Nation Address (SONA)

The intended presentation by the Minister of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development on the impact of the State of the National Address (SONA) on the agriculture sector had to be re-scheduled because the Minister had to attend a Cabinet meeting. 

Instead, the Committee considered and adopted the minutes of five previous meetings in order to get up to date with its administration. The minutes of all the meetings were adopted.

The Chairperson also advised Members of arrangements for their proposed oversight visit to Gwatyu.

Meeting report

Ms A Steyn (DA) reported that Mr N Masipa (DA) would be absent for the meeting because he had fallen while running earlier in the morning.

The Committee Secretary reported that there were apologies from Minister Thoko Didiza, Minister of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development, who was attending a Cabinet meeting; Ms K Mahlatsi (ANC), who was attending to a family matter; and Ms S Mbatha (ANC), who was attending another meeting.

The Chairperson welcomed the executives and interested guests who were able to join the meeting. He acknowledged that schools had reopened, and he wished students well for the school year.

He said that the plan for the meeting had been to engage with what had been said in the State of the Nation Address (SONA), focusing on what was relevant to this Portfolio Committee. However, because of a clash, he had had to reschedule the Minister’s presentation for another meeting. He apologised to the Members.

Committee minutes
The Committee would instead attend to the administrative task of considering the minutes of the meetings on 1 December 2020, 26 January 2021, 2 February 2021, and the two sessions on 9 February 2021 involving a presentation by the Ingonyama Trust Board (ITB) and briefings by the Minister and the Department.

The minutes were adopted.

On the minutes of 9 February 2021, Ms T Mbabama (DA) wanted to know if, when the ITB responded to the Committee’s questions in writing, the Secretariat could do a “round robin” of the responses instead of waiting for the next meeting with the ITB.

The Chairperson confirmed that the answers of both the ITB and the Department to the Committee’s questions would be sent to the Committee in writing by noon on 19 February 2021. As soon as the Secretariat received them, they would be compiled and circulated.

The minutes were adopted.

Oversight visit to Gwatyu

Ms Mbabama asked the Chairperson how the Committee was going to take forward the oversight visit to Gwatyu.

The Chairperson said that that issue had been tabled in the Management Committee. A number of issues had been raised, and the process that the Committee ought to follow had been outlined. In order for Committee Members to be well-versed with the issues relating to Gwatyu, the advisors and researchers had been requested to compile a briefing for them. Members ought to be well-versed with Gwatyu’s stakeholders to enable them to appear before the Committee so that they understand their roles. After that, an oversight with the latest COVID-19 regulations could be compiled. He had asked the Secretariat to schedule time in the Committee’s programme for this matter. This was the plan for how oversight would take place so that all the issues involved at Gwatyu could be fully understood in good time.

Ms Mbabama thanked the Chairperson, and said the plan sounded like a good one.

The Chairperson thanked Ms Mbabama for the question, saying that the Management Committee members had raised issues around Gwatyu, and that everyone wanted to make sure a proper process was followed when attending to those issues. The Secretariat would engage with those issues and schedule them.

He asked if there were any other matters arising. There were none.

He apologised again for the inconveniences which had affected the meeting’s programme. The discussions about the SONA would be aligned with the Committee’s strategic plan. The Secretariat would get back to the Committee on this.

The Chairperson thanked the Committee Members for their participation in the adoption of minutes, and said it was a good thing that the Committee was up to date with its administration. He thanked the officials of the Department who had joined the meeting, as well as the media, who were likely to have been interested in the Committee’s comments on the SONA.

He reminded the Members that the plenary was at 14h00, the debate on SONA would be continuing tomorrow, and the President would be responding on Thursday.

The meeting was adjourned.
 

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