Western Cape Cultural Commission & Language Committee nominations: way forward

Meeting report

The Chairperson noted the call for nominations for the Western Cape Cultural Commission and Western Cape Language Committee had been sent to the municipalities, Thusong Centres, and Parliament's stakeholder database. The nominations received are available on the Committee Microsoft Teams folder.

The Procedural Officer updated the Committee on the status of the nominations: WCCC received 38 nominations, of which two were late; WCLC received 17 nominations, of which one was late.

The Chairperson stated the Committee has decided to start the process early because the term of the WCCC ends mid-October and the WCLC ends on 31 October 2021.  Already the Committee has perused and deliberated on the nominations, and forwarded the list to the Minister. However, the Committee has the option to extend the nomination period until there is a larger group of nominees from which the Committee can recommend for the provincial minister to make suitable appointments. In terms of oversight, these two entities would report to the Committee.

Mr G Bosman (DA) seconded the suggestion to extend the nomination period, and suggested a roadshow should be established to create hype so that individuals from all the corners of the province could be appointed and this would help to accommodate all the language and cultural groupings of the province. Covid-19 has made it difficult for people to get information from their relied-on sources because municipalities and libraries were closed. The Committee should start thinking creatively about how to promote the call for nominations when it comes to using radio and social media differently.

Ms L Botha (DA) agreed with Mr Bosman’s idea, saying the names received so far did not clearly reflect the areas that are needed by the two entities. So it is better to get as many names as possible from all the districts of the province.

Ms A Bans (ANC) asked how this nomination process was going to be advertised because people were no longer using media as they did before due to the pandemic. Members should be creative about this. She suggested the late nominations should be included.

The Chairperson indicated the late nominations would be considered automatically by the Committee. The Committee would be provided with a plan going forward. He suggested the next nomination meeting should be held in person to make it more engaging rather than having it virtually.

All Members agreed to this arrangement.

The Procedural Officer suggested that the call for nominations advertisement should be revised because most of the applications he received had the impression this was for permanent work opportunities. People did not respond appropriately. The content of the advertisement and media alerts should be revised. Many people saw this as a platform to apply for jobs, and were not aware this is ad hoc and for membership.

The Chairperson said that he would meet with the procedural officer to plan how to move forward on this nomination process. The Committee would be kept informed.

Ms Bans asked how the extension period would affect the term of office of the two entities.

The Chairperson replied that the Cultural Commission’s term ends on 15 October 2021 while the Language Committee ends on 31 October 2021. The Committee would try to provide the provincial minister with the list of nominees before the expiration of their terms.

Resolutions
The Committee resolved the next nomination meeting would be held in person. It agreed to extend the nomination period to ensure a bigger pool of nominees representing the different districts and language and cultural groupings of the Western Cape.

The 22 June 2021 minutes were adopted and the meeting was adjourned.