Election of Chairperson

Meeting report

The Committee Secretary welcomed everyone and introduced himself.

He indicated that in terms of NCOP Rule 150, he is the acting Chairperson for the election of the Chairperson

[Whenever it is necessary to elect a chairperson of a committee, a committee must elect one of its members as the chairperson of the committee. The question must be put by the secretary to the committee]

He checked whether the Committee was quorate and asked Members to confirm if they were present when their names were called out.

He confirmed that the Committee was quorate.

He said under NCOP Rule 150, a committee must elect one of its members as the chairperson of that committee.

He called for nominations from Members.

Ms S Sithole (ANC, North West) nominated Mr M Modise (ANC, Gauteng) to chair the Committee. She noted the Committee will oversee the Departments of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development, Environment, Forestry and Fisheries, Mineral Resources and Energy, and Electricity.

Mr S Mabilo (ANC, Northern Cape) supported the nomination.

There were no further nominations or objections.

Mr Modise was duly elected to chair the Committee.

The Committee Secretary introduced the staff.

The Chairperson expressed gratitude for the opportunity to lead this Committee and indicated that Members were here to represent South Africa even though their political parties deployed them. He asked members for two things: to respect time; if a meeting starts at 9 am, it must start at 9 am. Secondly, when the reports are sent, members must study them thoroughly and prepare and flag issues that they want to raise with the departments. If Members come to meetings without reading the reports and wait for the Department to present to engage the presentation, the chair will cancel the meeting. We cannot accept departments to appear before the Committee, yet Members are not ready or fully prepared to engage them.

Lastly, he appealed to the institution's leadership to develop a reporting mechanism so that when the Department sends the report, it focuses on the required information. It is pointless for the Department to send a 130-page report, but only 13 pages are relevant to what the Committee requires. He also appealed to Members to be fully hands-on and read the reports from departments; otherwise, they would be short-circuited, and Members would not be representing South Africans effectively.

A Member pointed out that the newly elected Chairperson had not accepted the nomination and should do so for record purposes.

Mr Modise accepted the nomination.

The meeting was adjourned.