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ATC231121: Report of the Portfolio Committee on Communications and Digital Technologies on the South African Post Office SOC Ltd Amendment Bill [B 11 - 2023], dated 21 November 2023

Communications and Digital Technologies

Report of the Portfolio Committee on Communications and Digital Technologies on the South African Post Office SOC Ltd Amendment Bill [B 11 - 2023], dated 21 November 2023

 

The Portfolio Committee on Communications and Digital Technologies (the Committee), having considered the South African Post Office SOC Ltd Amendment Bill [B11 - 2023] (National Assembly – section 75), referred to it and classified by the Joint Tagging Mechanism (JTM) as a section 75 Bill, reports the Bill with amendments [B 11A – 2023] as follows:

 

  1. The South African Post Office SOC Ltd Amendment Bill [11-2023] was tabled in Parliament and referred to the Committee on 10 May 2023 (ATC No. 61-2023).
  2. The Bill seeks to amend the South African Post Office SOC Ltd Act, 2011, so as to provide for the revised duties and expand on the mandate of the South African Post Office as provided for in this Act and the Postal Services Act, 1998; provide for the repurposing of the Post Office infrastructure so as to provide diversified and expanded services and make the best use of the infrastructure capacity to extract value and forge partnerships with other stakeholders; to provide for the revised governance structure of South African Post Office; to provide for the establishment, appointment and functions of the Stamp Advisory Committee; and to provide for matters connected therewith.
  3. The Department of Communications and Digital Technologies briefed the Committee on the Bill on 13 June 2023.
  4. The Committee placed adverts on Tuesday, 18 July 2023, and the closing date for written submissions was Monday, 14 August 2023.
  5. The Committee received only one written submission on the Bill from Mr Sannie Samuel Zwane titled “Digital Community Infrastructure Framework to build social and economic inclusion through SAPO Existing Infrastructure: A Public Value Perspective”. A decision was taken not to invite Mr Zwane for an oral presentation to the Committee since his input was a recommendation on the use of technology to ensure efficiency in the operations of SAPO.

 

6. The public hearings were held in four (4) provinces as follows:

 

  1. Western Cape Province, Saturday, 9 September 2023, in the Cape Winelands District Municipality Drankenstein Local Municipality - Paarl (Simondium Hall).
  2. Eastern Cape Province, Friday, 15 September 2023, Amathole District Municipality Mbhashe Local Municipality - Idutywa
  3. Limpopo Province, Tuesday, 19 September 2023, Vhembe District Municipality, Thulamela Local Municipality – Thohoyandou
  4. Gauteng Province, Wednesday, 20 September 2023, City of Ekurhuleni, Tembisa.

 

7. On 24 October 2023, the Committee received a response from the Department regarding the public comments received during the public hearings. The Department also confirmed that the SAPO SOC Ltd Amendment Bill was subjected to the Socio-Economic Impact Assessment System (SEIAS) process.

8. On 31 October 2023, the Committee further deliberated on the Bill and highlighted issues of concern. The Parliamentary Legal Advisor, having considered the process taken to date by the Committee, confirmed that the Committee had proceeded in accordance with National Assembly Rule 286.

9. On 7 and 14 November 2023, the Committee formally proceeded to deliberate on the Bill clause-by-clause and produced an A-List to the Bill. The A-List was agreed to, except the Democratic Alliance registering its objection.

10. National Assembly Rule 286(4)(i) requires that “the Committee, after due deliberation, must consider a motion of desirability on the subject matter of the Bill and, if rejected, must immediately table the Bill and its report.” Based on all the input received and engagements on the Bill, a motion of desirability on the subject matter is placed before the Committee as required by National Assembly Rule 286(4)(i) to vote on.

11. On 21 November 2023, the Committee met to deliberate on the B-version of the Bill [B11B-2023] and deliberated on the Bill clause-by-clause to ensure that all the changes have been incorporated.

12. The Committee formally adopted the Bill [B11-2023]. The motion on the desirability of the Bill was agreed to, and the rejection of the motion of desirability of the Democratic Alliance was noted.

 

Report to be considered.

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