Committee Report & Annual Programme: adoption

Documents handed out:
Committee Report on Proclamation No. 77
Draft committee programme

SUMMARY
The Committee adopted the report on Proclamation No 77. All Committee members favoured the draft programme for 1999.

MINUTES
Chairperson Ms L Jacobus read out the report on Proclamation No. 77 of 1999 (attached below) and asked for comments. There were none and it was adopted.

Regarding the provisional agenda for 1999 she said there are no dates specified, as there is a lot of monitoring to be organised. She categorised the programme as follows:

1 Briefing on Welfare/ Home Affairs/ Health legislation for the remainder 1999

2 Meetings with Departmental Directors General and Ministers

3 Oversight programme:Health

• Monitoring progress of the Report on traditional healers
• Clinic building programmes\project and infrastructure
• Deployment of doctors to institutions for community service - A lot of students have finished their studies and they have not yet been deployed. Some are threatening to take the Government to court.
• Liaising with Department and district health systems
• Monitoring HIV Provincial Pilot Projects
• Impact of the Termination of Pregnancy Act - Some doctors are alleged to be refusing to terminate pregnancies in the Government hospitals where it is free but they do it in their sugeries and then charge.

Oversight programme: Welfare

• Integration of 14 Welfare Systems
• Monitoring phasing out of state maintenance grant and checking on support mechanisms e.g. poverty alleviation projects
• Monitoring the impact of flagship projects
• Monitoring NGO role in social community projects
• ID delivery to disabled community

Oversight programme: Home Affairs

• The standard of border control - sites visits
• State of readiness of the IEC with regard to the Local Government Elections
• Liasing with the National Assembly Portfolio Committee on Home Affairs
• Briefing on International Migration White Paper
• Briefing on progress on ID card system

Comments

Ms S Ntlabati (ANC): Some young people regard this freedom of pregnancy termination as if it is a family planning thing. We need to check on this.

Also, many children are not registered, we must link birth registration with obtaining IDs.

Ms J Vilakazi (IFP) I think our committee must task itself with finding out how many clinics and similar structures are not being used and why.

Ms E Lubidla (ANC) Concerning the question of illegal immigrants, when we visited the borders we discovered that manpower and resources are lacking.

Ms Gouws (DP) In Eastern Cape nurses in the rural areas cannot cope with the workload. Also, there is uproar about the changing of IDs and the cost implications of such an action.

The Chairperson proposed that there should be a sub committee that would prioritise the programme.

The Subcommittee consists of the following members:

Chairperson Ms L Jacobus

Ms S Ntlabati (ANC)

Dr P Nel (DP)

Mr B Mkhaliphi (ANC)

The members divided themselves according to areas of preference with regard to the programme and they will follow up on these.

SELECT COMMITTEE ON SOCIAL SERVICES (NCOP)

REPORT on PROCLAMATION No.77 of 1999

1. The Select Committee on Social Services, having considered Proclamation No.77 of 1999, pertaining to the assignment of laws to the Eastern Cape Province by the President under Item 14(3) (a) of schedule 6 to the Constitution, tabled on 18 August 1999 and referred to the Committee, recommends that the following laws be assigned to the said Province for repeal:

Social Pensions Act, 1976 (Act No.9 of 1976) (Ciskei)

National Welfare Act, 1987 (Act No.18 of 1987) (Ciskei)

Social Pensions Act, 1978 (Act No. 40 of 1978) (Transkei)

The Committee further recommends that the necessary mechanisms be put in place for the administration to ensure service delivery governed by the said Acts.

Report to be considered.