Commissioner Tlake’s petition; Committee Programme: discussion

Meeting report

IMPROVEMENT OF QUALITY OF LIFE AND STATUS OF WOMEN JOINT MONTITORING COMMITTEE
15 April 2005
COMMISSIONER TLAKE’S PETITION AND COMMITTEE PROGRAMME: DISCUSSION

Chairperson: Ms M Morutoa (ANC)

Documents handed out:
Provincial Joint Monitoring Committees’ workshop report
Committee Programme items for slotting
Democratic Alliance suggestions for Committee Programme

SUMMARY
The Committee met to discuss its programme for the year, the delegation for the National Gender Machinery meeting, and the matter concerning Commissioner Manana Tlake from the Commission on Gender Equality. This issue concerned Ms Tlake’s dismissal because she was on the ANC proportional election list. Members agreed that the Party Whips should look into this matter, as it was not their responsibility.

MINUTES

Committee Programme
Members agreed that they needed to formulate a year planner that reconciled with the Parliamentary calendar. This would help reduce the serious problem of absenteeism. The Committee then discussed the programme suggestions. The Democratic Alliance was the only Party to have provided an alternative list of priority discussions, as requested from various Parties in the last meeting. Members then prioritised the items and added other suggestions The Committee agreed that in the future, all lists should be combined into one document for discussion.

Priorities were listed as meeting with organisations that worked with domestic violence and human trafficking (working in conjunction with the Department of Home Affairs); the Millennium Development Goals; the rollout of antiretroviral AIDS drugs; the impact of the Western Cape floods and shack fires on women; the plight of HIV/AIDS orphans, provincial visits and the importance of having competent women in the upcoming local government elections, the National Gender Machinery meeting; and responding to the recent Beijing Plus Ten confence in New York.

National Gender Machinery
The Committee had been invited by the Office for the Status of Women (OSW) to send eight Members to attend the National Gender Machinery meeting in Johannesburg. The Committee felt that they should always be involved in the OSW activities to ensure that they performed their role of monitoring. The Members selected Ms M Morutoa (ANC), Mr F Maserumule (ANC), Ms J Semple (DA), Ms M Mdalose (IFP), Ms M Mdaka (UDM), Ms P Themba (ANC), and Ms D Mororbi (ANC). Ms J Vilakazi volunteered to attend if Members were unavailable.

Provincial Joint Monitoring Committees’ workshop report
Members reported that the training had been a success and that participation had been lively. However, Members’ attendance had been weak. It seemed that provincial joint monitoring committees were working well. A shortcoming of the training was the urban bias and the weak focus on rural women. It was agreed that the Committee would use Ms Petu Serote as a resource person.

Commissioner M Tlake
The Chairperson brought an issue to the Committee regarding Ms Tlake of the Commission for Gender Equality. This Commissioner had been on the ANC list for the 2004 election in the Free State. According to the law, a person could not hold office and simultaneously run for an election. Commissioner Tlake was asked to make a choice between her position as Commissioner or a candidate for the election. The Commissioner remained on the list but was not voted into Parliament. The Commission dismissed her from her duties as per the law. The Commissioner was challenging this dismissal and claimed she had been unfairly dismissed.

The Committee felt that this was not an issue for them to deal with, and that they had limited information on the matter. They agreed that the CGE should provide clear information about what had occurred to the ANC Whips. Members were all aware of the rules of the Party List. Most felt that if the Commissioner had chosen to stay on the List, then she had made her choice. Members pointed out that the Commissioner was still on the List and could still be deployed to Parliament if a Member passed away.

The meeting was adjourned.