Committee Reports on: Provincial Treasury & Department of Economic Development and Tourism Annual Reports 2021/22

Finance, Economic Opportunities and Tourism (WCPP)

29 November 2022
Chairperson: Ms C Murray (DA)
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Meeting Summary

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The Standing Committee considered and adopted the draft reports on Votes 12 and Vote 3, as well as the minutes of its meetings held between July 2022 and November 2022.

The Committee also discussed and agreed on how to proceed with conducting interviews after the short-listing of candidates for the Consumer Affairs Tribunal. The Committee was unclear as to whether all the Members could sit on the interview panel, and agreed to seek clarity from the Minister.

The Committee adopted all the minutes and reports tabled before it for consideration.

Meeting report

The Chairperson opened the meeting by welcoming all the attendees and said they would be adopting minutes and reports.

Adoption of draft report on 2021/22 deliberations on Vote 12

The Chairperson asked the Members to look at the draft report which was flighted on the screen, and raise any comments or questions. 

In the absence of any amendments, Mr R Mackenzie (DA) moved for the adoption of the report. Mr A van der Westhuizen (DA) seconded.

Adoption of draft report on 2021/22 deliberations on Vote 3

The Chairperson asked the Members to look at the draft report which was flighted on the screen, and raise any comments or questions. Mr van der Westhuizen proposed the adoption of the report, and was seconded by Mr Mackenzie.

Adoption of draft report on oversight visit to Cape Town International Airport

The Chairperson asked the Members to look at the draft report which was flighted on the screen, and raise any comments or questions. She noticed a few grammatical errors.

Mr Mackenzie proposed the adoption of the report, and was seconded by Mr G Brinkhuis (Al Jama-ah).

Adoption of Committee minutes

The Chairperson went through the Committee's minutes dated 12 August page by page, and invited comments from the Members.

Mr Mackenzie proposed their adoption, and was seconded by Mr Brinkhuis. The minutes were adopted.

The Chairperson then went page by page through the Committee's minutes of 29 July, 19 and 26 October, and 1, 2, 9, and 11 November.

Mr Mackenzie moved for the adoption of all the minutes, and Mr van der Westhuizen seconded. The minutes were adopted.

Consumer Affairs Tribunal

The Chairperson said she had received a letter from the Minister regarding the Consumer Affairs Tribunal, which she had forwarded to the Members. Members of the Committee needed to be selected for an interview panel, and the governing Act indicated that the interviews conducted should be open to the public. The Act did not prescribe how the process should unfold, so the Committee could suggest that the process unfolds just like the Western Cape Gambling and Racing Board interviews. In that instance, the Committee received a briefing from the Department of Economic Opportunities on the process leading up to the short-listing of candidates and the qualifications required to become a trustee, as well as a briefing on each candidate similar to the property outcome briefing. This could take place at the end of January 2023. The interviews could then commence the week following the end of January. She asked Members to note that the decision of the Committee would be communicated to the Minister in writing afterwards. 

Mr van der Westhuizen asked whether the advertisement was a prescribed or standardised advertisement, and what the minimum criteria were. Once they saw the applications, he proposed that the Committee consider the possibility of first short-listing the candidates. They could look at the response they would get from the advertisement.

Mr Mackenzie said that he was also of similar opinion -- that they short-list candidates first and then interview the vetted candidates.

Mr Brinkhuis said that obviously when the interviews were conducted, they would be conducted in person.

The Chairperson said that what could be done in terms of cost saving was that the Committee could receive its briefing from the Department. Then the interviews would be conducted in person, rather than conducting an online interview.

Ms Zaheedah Adams, Committee Coordinator, clarified that from the Minister's letter, the positions had already been advertised and they had received a total of eight nominations. They had been gazetted for public comment, and none had been received, which was why the Department was saying that the next step was for the Committee to conduct the interviews. The only question was who was going to sit on the interview panel, because that was the information that had been initially communicated to the Minister.

The Chairperson asked Ms Adams to request the Department to provide them with the measures taken to vet the candidates by mid-January 2023. She proposed that all the Members of the Committee sit on the interview panel, as had been done with the Western Cape Gambling and Racing Board.

Ms N Nkondlo (ANC) asked if the Tribunal being discussed was the one that sat with the Department of Economic Development and Tourism (DEDAT).

The Chairperson confirmed that Tribunal being discussed was the one that sat with the DEDAT. 

She proposed that once the Committee received the briefing from the Department, they should be provided with hard and soft copies of the candidates’ profiles so they could be perused and read for the vetting in mid-January. Then, at the briefing by the Western Cape Government, the Department would take the Committee through the process of short-listing and thereafter the Committee could discuss its own short-listing process and proceed with interviews the following week.

Mr van der Westhuizen asked who would be taking the lead in the administration of the interviews. 

The Chairperson responded that the Committee would be responsible for taking the lead. She suggested that they follow the same process that was done for the Western Cape Gambling and Racing Board, so that the Members of the Committee form part of the interview selection panel.

Mr van der Westhuizen said his understanding from reading the letter from the Minister was that only a selection of Members of the Committee would form part of the interview panel, and not all the Members.

The Chairperson replied that she would have an informal discussion with the Minister later, as she was going to meet her later on in the day over the issue. She also asked the Committee Secretary to check in with the Department so that they could get clarity on whether the interview process would be done concurrently, or whether the actual Standing Committee would take the lead in terms of the interview process, similar to the Western Cape Gambling and Racing Board.

Lastly, the Chairperson informed the Members that she had put in an application for them to join the Select Committee on Local Government and Human Settlements on their visit to California, noting that Silicon Valley was nearby. She would keep Members posted on the progress.

Ms Nkondlo and Mr Brinkhuis expressed their support for the move.

The meeting was adjourned.

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