Transport Appeal Tribunal A/B & Marine Pollution (Prevention of pollution from Ships) A/B: deliberations; Committee Strategic Planning Session

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Transport

07 February 2023
Chairperson: Mr L Mangcu (ANC)
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Meeting Summary

The Portfolio Committee deliberated on its strategic planning session, the Transport Appeal Amendment Bill and consideration of the draft A-list, and the Marine Pollution Amendment Bill.

The focus in considering the strategic plan document was on the outline of the strategy, Parliament's priorities, the finalisation of legislation, the development of annual performance plans in the first quarter of the 2023/24 financial period, and getting inputs and contributions from the Members. The Committee was informed that the strategic plan was addressing matters of scholar transport, the Moloto Corridor Project, joint committee meetings, and the taxi recapitalisation project. The issue of universal access was also included in the plan, and had also been raised during the public hearings.

Members commented that the proposals for the Committee's study tours should be realistic, because 2023 was the final year before the next elections. They suggested the Committee should also consider doing oversight when conducting public hearings in North West and the Eastern Cape, and proposed it should have further discussions on the public transport situation in Bloemfontein and Rustenburg, because there were challenges there. The Minister instituted an investigation into the integrated public transport network (IPTN). The Committee should be given a clear outline of what the Minister wanted to achieve by investigating these two areas.

The Committee was taken through the draft A-list document of the Transport Appeal Tribunal Amendment Bill, clause by clause, with a special focus on technical amendments to certain clauses. Members considered and supported the A-list without any contrary views being expressed.

The Committee also deliberated on the Marine Pollution Amendment Bill, and considered the comments from the Southern African Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds (SANCCOB), the Wildlife Environment Society of SA (WESSA) and Natural Justice, focusing on Regulation 3. The maritime policy and legislation unit of the Department of Transport reminded the Committee about the deliberations it had with it on the annexures to the Act, where the Committee had considered proposing changes to the text. The parliamentary legal advisors said the annexures given by the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) could not be changed and it would be a waste of time for the Members to consider them. The wording of the convention could not be amended.

The Committee discussed what it would like to hear from the Airports Company of SA (ACSA) when it appeared before it at its next meeting on 21 February, because the entity had failed to appear before its first meeting of the year. Members felt it was important to hold ACSA to account, and that would be done without toning down the dissatisfaction of the Committee. Important points on the table would be the general upkeep of local and international airports, because there had been a deterioration at both the Cape Town and OR Tambo International Airports. They also wanted to establish how far the negotiations were between ACSA and the relevant departments of North West and Limpopo provinces regarding the Mmabatho and Polokwane Airports, so that they could be placed under the ACSA.

Meeting report

Strategic review and annual performance plan 2023/24 planning session

Adv Alma Nel, Committee Content Advisor, took the Committee through the strategic plan document page by page. The focus was on the outline of the strategy and Parliament's priorities, and for the Committee to finalise legislation and develop annual performance plans (APPs) in the first quarter of the 2023/24 financial period. She said the main point was not to adopt the strategic plan, but to get input and contributions from the Members.

The Chairperson asked when the situation analysis would be presented to the Committee.

The Committee researcher said it would be made available to the Committee when completed.

Mr L McDonald (ANC) said the proposals for the study tours should be realistic, because 2023 was the final year before the new elections. The Committee should consider the study tour to Barcelona, instead of considering many tours. Nothing had been stated about the visit to the Eastern Cape. He expressed satisfaction with the strategic plan.

Mr T Mabhena (DA) suggested the Committee should also consider doing oversight when it was conducting public hearings when it was visiting North West and the Eastern Cape, but that would need proper planning. The programme should prioritise one or two provinces for oversight on the poor state of regional roads, because the budget came from the national Department, and it was unacceptable to leave everything to the provinces.

He also suggested the Committee should look at reviewing the grant allocation to transport service providers, because the grant was not calculated on a per passenger basis, and it was important to find a better mechanism to reduce the impact of high transport costs. The review should be done at a national level, focusing on the elderly, students and unemployed so that they receive discounts when travelling to bring relief.

Lastly, he stated that the Committee should find solutions to the taxi recapitalisation project, as R1 billion had not yet been allocated because of the lack of formalisation of the taxi business, making it difficult to implement the project.

Mr I Seitlholo (DA) proposed the Committee should have another bite at the Bloemfontein public hearings regarding the Mangaung transport situation, and the Committee should be given a clear outline of what the Minister wanted to achieve in terms of the investigations there. He also commented on the newspaper article about the Rustenburg public transport, which was run by the taxi operators because the bus service was no longer working. He said the Committee should go back to Rustenburg, because there were challenges there and the Minister had instituted an investigation into the Integrated Public Transport Network (IPTN). The Department should brief the Committee about what was happening in Rustenburg and Mangaung, because these two cities had failed the ordinary people, students, unemployed and the elderly.

Ms M Ramadwa (ANC) wanted to know whether the Committee should not be doing oversight after the public hearings to see if things had really happened, because the public wanted to be briefed by the Committee, and when it conducted public hearings many matters were raised by the public that needed to be conveyed to other committees, including issues raised about Transnet and scholar transport by community members.

Mr Mabhena reminded the Committee that during the Moloto Corridor oversight in Mpumalanga, where everything was poorly organised, it had agreed to write a letter to National Treasury, the Minister of Finance, Parliament's chair of chairs and the Minister of Transport about the situation it found itself in. He now wanted to know if the letter had eventually been written, and what the response had been if it had been written. He also wanted to know if there had been an update on the planned joint committee meeting with the Portfolio Committee on Basic Education.

Ms N Nolutshungu (EFF) proposed that accessible transport should be put on the agenda as universal access, because people with disabilities were struggling to work, and accessible transport had been treated as a "by-the-way," and not given serious attention.

The Chairperson commented that the Committee's work was confined to pushing papers. Colleagues wanted to do more, whether the Committee had the time or not. Some of the things raised by Members needed to be packaged and then advocated. He added that it would be a serious matter for the Committee not to interact with entities it had not managed to engage within five years. Joint committee meetings with Basic Education on scholar transport would be speeded up.

Adv Nel said the strategic plan was addressing the matters of scholar transport, the Moloto Corridor Project, joint committee meetings and the taxi recap project. Universal access was also included in the plan, and had also been raised during the public hearings. The specifics around these matters would be thrashed out when the management committee (MANCO) met on planning. She indicated that doing oversights during public hearings was a matter of operations, and Members were currently doing that already. The bus rapid transport (BRT) resolutions were still to be submitted to the Committee by the department. The South African Maritime Safety Authority (SAMSA) and the Airports Company of SA (ACSA) were targeted for the current quarter; the Committee would determine specifications for the joint committee meetings.

The Chairperson said the Committee would refine the draft programme and slot in those matters that needed to be included, and Members should be aware it could not be in every place even though they were free to submit their suggestions.

Ms Valerie Carelse, Committee Secretary, said the suggestion about the Moloto Corridor Project had been tabled to the Chairperson of the Committee, who then had to table it before the Members for discussion so that it could be forwarded to the parliamentary chair of chairs and other ministers.

Mr Mabhena proposed the Committee should come up with five priority areas to focus on during this year. He said it was not clear why the letter about the Moloto Corridor oversight had not been written, because it was the decision of the Committee to write it to Mr Cedric Frolic (House Chairperson) because the Department of Transport and National Treasury were not present during the oversight visit, and the Committee could not do its work. The taxpayers’ money got wasted. The Committee had been held hostage there, and that should be stated in the letter.

The Chairperson responded that it could be that the decision of the Committee was not taken in a formal meeting, but the letter would be written and forwarded to the relevant parties or departments.

Mr Mabhena countered that when they had met in the boardroom during the oversight visit, there had been no other people in the meeting except Committee Members and support staff, and it was resolved the letter would be written. Even content suggestions for the letter had been discussed.

Mr McDonald agreed with the Chairperson, stating the letter would need to be written even though it would not have the impact it would have had at the time.

Mr Seitlholo wanted to know if the Committee or the Department was responsible for communicating the Moloto Corridor's outcome to the public. If it was the Committee, then the Committee should take a decision on that and do it.

The Chairperson said it was not the responsibility of the Committee to communicate to the public that the project would not be continuing. It was the responsibility of the Minister and the Department. The Committee was responsible only for the oversight.

Mr Mabhena agreed with the Chairperson, and said the Committee should be given the final draft document/report.

The Chairperson reminded Members the Committee would continue to do oversight without fear or favour, and they should take a united stand when tackling its work, even if there were differences of opinion.

Transport Appeal Tribunal Amendment Bill [B8 – 2020]

Ms Aadilah Arnold, State Law Advisor, Office of the Chief State Law Advisor (OCSLA), took the Members through the draft A-list document for consideration clause by clause, with special focus on the technical amendments in clauses 1, 2, 3, 5, 6 and 12.

Mr McDonald supported the A-list.

Ms Ramadwa seconded the proposal.

The A-list was considered and supported by Members, without any contrary views.

Marine Pollution (Prevention of pollution from ships) Amendment Bill [B5 – 2022]

Mr Dumisani Ntuli, Chief Director: Maritime Policy and Legislation, Department of Transport, reminded the Members about the deliberations at the last sessions with the Committee. It had considered the annexures to the Act to propose changes to the text. The International Maritime Organisation had given the text on the annexures (IMO). The Committee considered only those annexures that would be in the principal Act.

Mr Andile Tetyana, Parliamentary Legal Advisor, added that annexures could not be changed and it would be a waste of time for the Committee to consider this. If it was not happy with the text of the annexures, that meant it was saying the executive should go back and discuss the matter with the IMO.

Adv Nel also indicated the wording of the convention could not be amended.

The Chairperson said the annexures would not be amended, and would remain as they were. The Committee would continue with the process, because the public had to make comments.

Adv Nel took the Committee through the comments from the Southern African Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds (SANCCOB), the Wildlife Environment Society of SA (WESSA) and Natural Justice, focusing on Regulation 3.

Mr McDonald proposed the Committee should move forward with the Bill, because it had dealt with it extensively.

The Chairperson suggested the Department should seriously consider consulting widely on the Bill, because the traditional leaders' forum should not be excluded from the process. This also should be done with other bills.

The Committee Secretary said if there were no amendments from the legal advisors, it would have the chance to adopt the Bill.

The Chairperson then asked the Department what the impact of the Merchant Shipping Bill was on the work of the Department, because it had been tabled before the Committee.

Mr Mthunzi Madiya, Deputy Director-General (DDG): Maritime, Department of Transport, said the Bill had been taken to the Committee by the Cabinet. It was the bible of the work done in maritime to reflect the reality of today. That was why the Department had decided to review the Merchant Shipping Act. It should be given attention by the Committee to review the powers of the agencies and those of the Minister so that it would be effective.

The Chairperson said the Committee would deal with the Bill.

He asked Members to deliberate on what they would like to hear from ACSA when it appeared before the Committee at its next meeting, because the entity had failed to appear before the first meeting of the Committee this year.

Mr McDonald proposed the engagement with ACSA should be slotted into the next meeting as soon as possible, because negative issues were raised about the entity that should be discussed with the Committee.

The Chairperson indicated the next Committee meeting would be on 21 February, and ACSA would be slotted into that meeting.

Mr Mabhena pointed out ACSA had frustrated the Committee three times. The entity had implemented remedial actions regarding the R40m contract, and had set a trap that it wanted the Committee to be in. The Committee had wanted to subpoena ACSA, but the Minister had asked it not to. However, it had pressed on to subpoena the entity. The Committee wanted due diligence, decisions to be implemented, and to hold the executive to account. ACSA should appear before the Committee at the first available opportunity.

The Chairperson agreed it was important to hold ACSA to account, and this should be done without toning down the dissatisfaction of the Committee.

Mr Mabhena said he would like to ask ACSA about the general upkeep of local and international airports, because there had been a deterioration at both the Cape Town and OR Tambo International Airports. A conversation was important on how that had impacted its business.

Mr Seitlholo wanted to find out if there had been any attempts to engage with the relevant department in the North West regarding the Mmabatho Airport so that it could be taken over by ACSA, because concerns had been raised to ACSA by the Committee in 2019.

Ms Ramadwa remarked that the Polokwane International Airport was not under ACSA, but under the provincial department. She said there had been no generator when there was load-shedding there, and that was affecting passengers. She wanted to know how far the negotiations were between ACSA and the airport so it could be under ACSA. She also wanted to know what the policy of ACSA was concerning lost luggage, because that was affecting many people.

Ms F Khumalo (ANC) remarked that a failure to engage with ACSA would mean undermining the passengers of the entity.

Mr McDonald commented that if the Members did not raise maintenance and building issues, somebody would make a mistake and someone would die, because there had been a closure of taxi-ing runways, and some of them were not marked properly.

The Chairperson said the presentations from the entities were different from what one saw on the ground, because the presentations talked about the importance of the facilities and targets.

Ms Nolutshungu asked what the recourse was for those who did not honour their obligations.

The Chairperson said the Committee had the right to subpoena people who refused to honour an invitation from Parliament. He pointed out that ACSA had stated it did not go where it was not invited, but this was not stopping the Committee from calling the Mmabatho and Polokwane Airports managers to appear before the Committee. It was not the responsibility of ACSA to pursue these two airports, and the Committee should start thinking of doing oversight at them.

The Chairperson then took the Members through the draft Committee programme, page by page, and asked what the next step was for the Marine Pollution Amendment Bill.

The Committee secretary indicated it would be finalised by Creda Communication and the legal advisors. At this stage, the legal advisors foresaw no problems, and it would be tabled before the Committee on 21 February for adoption.

Adoption of minutes

The minutes of 29 November were deferred for adoption to the next meeting on 21 February.

The meeting was adjourned.
 

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