Election of Chairperson

Meeting report

Election of Chairperson

The Committee Secretary welcomed Members to the meeting and said that the purpose was to elect the new Committee Chairperson according to NA Rule 158. 

The Secretary called for nominations.

Mr G Mpumza (ANC) nominated Mr F Xasa (ANC) as the new Chairperson.

Mr B Hadabe (ANC) seconded the nomination of Mr Xasa.

Mr Xasa accepted the nomination.

The Secretary confirmed that there were no further nominations and declared Mr Xasa as the new Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs.

Chairperson Remarks

The Chairperson thanked the Committee for the nomination and support and highlighted that he is new to the portfolio relating to local government. The support of the Committee will be highly relied on to ensure that work is done especially because the challenges in local government are serious.

The Chairperson said that poverty, inequality and increased unemployment are also challenges that the Committee must work together on because local government is close to the communities which is where democracy should be practiced and where development should be taking place.

The Chairperson expressed eagerness to work and for the work of Parliament to continue.

The platform was opened for comments.

Ms H Mkhaliphi (EFF) congratulated the Chairperson and highlighted that the Committee works as a united front because of the challenges in municipalities to ensure that there is accountability. She asked about the status of the Committee’s programme.

The Chairperson said the adopted programme for the Committee would continue so that work was not disrupted. There might be slight changes because he needs to familiarise himself with the programme of the Committee.

Mr K Ceza (EFF) welcomed the Chairperson and expressed satisfaction that the Chairperson spoke about local government and the issues of service delivery, poverty, unemployment and inequality.  He said that there is a lot of incompetency, corruption and unqualified officials within local government and hoped that work will be done with the Chairperson to resolve these issues to improve the state of local government.

Ms D Direko (ANC) congratulated the Chairperson and appreciated that the programme will remain the same. The challenges in local government require the Committee to work hard and to remain committed to focusing on the issues that affect local government instead of politics. The Committee will support the Chairperson to achieve this.

Mr I Groenewald (FF+) congratulated the Chairperson and said the Committee shared the concerns on the state of local government. He warned the Chairperson that the Committee works hard and hoped that the Chairperson will keep up with the work of the Committee.

Ms E Spies (DA) also welcomed the Chairperson and said that full cooperation will be given to support him.

Ms Mkhaliphi said that communication was sent by the Committee Secretary on important matters but they were not included in the agenda today. The programme states that the Committee is supposed to have a meeting on 7 September 2021 but the agenda today initially displayed a meeting with the Municipal Demarcation Board (MDB) – she asked for clarity.

The Committee Secretary said that a clear timeline has not been received from the MDB on how long the board will take to sort out the issues on its side but the assumption is that the matters will be addressed when the annual report is presented before the end of October 2021.

The Chairperson said that feedback on the matter will be expected and noted the comments from the Committee. Preparations need to be done ahead of time on issues that will be discussed to ensure that the implementation of the Committee’s programmes is effective.   

Meeting Adjourned.