Auditor-General on National and Provincial Audit outcomes 2009/10: meeting cancelled due to poor attendance

Committee of Chairpersons

28 October 2010
Chairperson: Mr T Nombembe (ANC), Mr R Tau (ANC)
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Meeting Summary

The Joint Chairpersons Committee assembled to discuss the national and provincial audit outcomes 2009/10 presented by the Auditor-General. However, the Auditor-General was not pleased with the number of Committee Chairpersons who had turned up for the meeting. Of the 51 committee chairpersons in Parliament, only ten were present. He commented that if he had to ask the Office of the Auditor-General to do an analysis of how much time Members of Parliament actually spent in Parliament it would “not be pretty”. He suggested that the meeting be rescheduled. One of the members stated that the Auditor-General need not be involved in parliamentary challenges and an analysis would be unnecessary. The chairpersons stated their opinions about whether the meeting should continue. Those who were in favour of continuing were fewer than those who were not. It was decided that the meeting be rescheduled for Wednesday, November 3 2010 at 17:00. [Note this has been subsequently postponed to 10 November 2010]

Meeting report

The Auditor-General, Mr Terence Nombembe, said that the list of apologies from absent chairpersons was too long to read. He stated his displeasure that so few committee chairpersons had turned up for the meeting nor was he pleased that members were late for the meeting. He asked the chairpersons present about their opinion on postponing the meeting until the following Wednesday 3 November.

The manner in which committee chairpersons had been attending the meetings with the Auditor-General had been appalling. It would seem that a Friday was not the best day to convene. He suggested that the meeting be postponed. He added that if he had to ask the Office of the Auditor-General to do an analysis of how much time Members of Parliament actually spent in Parliament it would not be pretty. Members who had committees on Tuesdays only came in on a Tuesday and thus were not here on a Monday and the same for members who had meetings on Wednesdays. On Thursdays after caucus there were many disappearing acts. Thus they worked from Tuesdays to Thursdays.

Mr Nombembe suggested that the meeting be rescheduled for Wednesday at 11am and asked Chairpersons to make their meetings earlier so that they would be available at 11am. He asked members to state whether they were happy with this decision.

Ms Moloi (ANC) said that she would like to make an appeal for 12:30 instead of 11am. Their scheduled meetings were set in stone and it would not be possible to change these at this time.

Two members present were against rescheduling and asked that the meeting continue because they had sacrificed to be there. Whether the others were not here was irrelevant. One of the members stated that the Auditor-General need not be involved in parliamentary challenges and an analysis would be unnecessary. There were at least ten committee chairpersons present as far as they could see and they should therefore continue.

Mr D Gamede, Select Committee on Trade and International Relations Chair, pointed out that some members were still in China.

Mr Nombembe said that there were 51 committee chairpersons in Parliament and only ten were present at the meeting. It was not enough to continue the presentation.

Mr R Tau, (ANC) said that it would be best to convene at 17:00 so that it did not interfere with members’ usual committee meetings. He asked who was in favour of this.

All members agreed.

The meeting was adjourned.

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