SAHRC and Committee Reports on Xenophobia hearings; Committee Annual Report

Meeting report

FOREIGN AFFAIRS PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE
9 February 2005
XENOPHOBIA HEARINGS: SAHRC AND COMMITTEE REPORTS; COMMITTEE ANNUAL REPORT

Chairperson: Mr D Sithole (ANC)

Documents handed out
Programme of the meeting
South African Human Rights Commission Report on Xenophobia
Committee Report on Xenophobia Hearings
Committee Annual Report 2004

Submissions made at the Xenophobia Hearings:
Coordinating Body of Refugee Communities submission
University of the Witwatersrand submission
University of the Witwatersrand Background Paper
South African Police Service submission
Centre for Anti-Racism and Anti-Sexism( CARAS) Trust submission
Equality, Justice and Dignity Faze 2 submission
Refugees and Asylum Seekers in South Africa "Children or Lesser God" submission
National Consortium for Refugee Affairs submission
Lawyers for Human Rights submission
Johannesburg Justice & Peace
International Community Unifiers (I.C.U.)
Community Agency for Social Enquiry
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHRC)
South African Human Rights Commission

SUMMARY
The Committee adopted its Annual Report 2004. The Xenophobia Hearings Reports compiled by the Committee Secretary and the South African Human Rights Commission will be deliberated on by the Committee before tabling it in Parliament. The Committee’s allocated budget was only one third of the proposed budget and members were asked to make appropriate suggestions for the Committee Programme.

MINUTES
Annual Report
The Committee went through the report and adopted it after making a few minor changes and recommending that the final document be edited.

Committee Minutes
The Committee unanimously adopted Committee minutes from meetings that had taken place in 2004.

The Chair noted that the Committee Section had proposed that the committee should, in future, deal with its previous minutes in its subsequent meeting so as to afford members an opportunity to consider matters arising. The Committee accepted the proposal.

Report on Xenophobia Hearings
The Chair explained that there were two reports on the Xenophobia Hearings held jointly with this Committee and the SAHRC in Johannesburg in November 2004. The first report was a summary of the events compiled by the Committee Secretary and the second was a report compiled by the SAHRC.

Prof B Turok (ANC), noting the importance of the matter, felt that it would be proper for the Committee to discuss ways of communicating the findings of the hearings to the public at large and not just end with the submission of these reports to Parliament. The issue of Xenophobia affected the country as a whole.

Mr M Ramgobin (ANC) proposed that since the findings of the SAHRC would not necessarily be an exact reflection of the views of the Committee and government role-players. A proviso along these lines should be added to the report.

The Chair acknowledged the concernS and said that the Committee would indeed - after submission of its report to Parliament - discuss further the issues around Xenophobia and Racism taking into account the resolutions of the Hearings.

Mr W Seremane (DA) was of the view that all committee members should have a common understanding of the issues raised in both these reports before they were submitted to Parliament. He proposed that the Committee be given the opportunity to go through the documents and deliberate on them as a Committee before they be submitted.

Mr Gibson (DA) agreed, noting that this would give them an opportunity to apply their minds to the findings and avoid the event being reduced to mere talk-shop.

The Chair noted that the Committee agreed that members first be allowed an opportunity to debate both reports and the findings of the hearing before they were submitted to Parliament. The committee programme would be adjusted to afford such an opportunity.

Committee Budget and Programme
The Chair explained to the Committee how the budget allocation process worked. He noted that a tentative budget of R947 753, which represented a one third of the proposed budget, had been allocated to the Committee.

Mr K Bapela (ANC) asked whether this allocation covered both the International Affairs and African Union sub-committees of the Committee.

The Chair said that it did and he asked members to come up with issues which could form part of the Committee’s programme for the year taking into account its budget. He noted that the Department would brief the Committee on the Commission for Africa Report on 16 February and members should prepare themselves accordingly.

Mr Ramgobin (ANC) asked if it would be possible for the Committee to be also briefed by the Minister of Finance on the Africa Commission.

The Chair said that this could be done, however they should first receive a briefing from the Department before they could engage the Minister of Finance on the matter.

The meeting was adjourned.