Committee annual Report and Minutes 2003, Committee Report on Monitoring of National and Provincial Gender Machinery: adoption

IMPROVEMENT OF QUALITY OF LIFE AND STATUS OF WOMEN JOINT MONITORING COMMITTEE
18 February 2004
COMMITTEE ANNUAL REPORT AND MINUTES 2003, COMMITTEE REPORT ON MONITORING OF NATIONAL AND PROVINCIAL GENDER MACHINERY(21 NOVEMBER 2003): ADOPTION

Chairperson: Ms L Xingwana

Documents Handed Out:
Committee Annual Report, January - December 2003 (Awaited)
Committee Report on Monitoring of National and Provincial Gender Machinery, 21 November 2003 (Awaited)
Committee Minutes: 25 March 2003, 17 September 2003, 26 September 2003, 14 November 2003, and 21 November 2003 (Awaited)

SUMMARY
The Committee discussed and amended the Annual Report for 2003, the Report on Monitoring of National and Provincial Gender Machinery on 21 November 2003, and the last five outstanding Minutes for 2003. All documents were adopted with the Committee's amendments.

MINUTES
Chairperson Xingwana noted that the Committee would have to postpone consideration of the First Term Committee Programme for 2004, the 2004/2005 Budget, the African Charter for Peoples' and Human Rights, and South Africa's Beijing Report to the African Union. Therefore, the meeting would focus on the adoption of the Annual Report for 2003, the Committee Report on Monitoring of National and Provincial Gender Machinery on 21 November 2003, and the Committee Minutes for 25 March 2003, 17 and 26 September 2003, and 14 and 21 November 2003.

She mentioned that various Departments had been preparing a description of their programmes and legislation affecting women. These descriptions were to be compiled into a report that would be available to the Committee the following week. The Report would be extremely useful as it detailed the achievements and failures of departmental legislation. They needed to meet the following Wednesday to discuss the Budget, the Beijing Report, and the feedback from the Departments.

Responding to a question from Ms I Mutsila (ANC), she noted that the Committee also needed to agree on a date to meet with MPs. She then commented on the Committee's submission to the Chairperson of the NCOP regarding the Communal Land Rights Bill. The Committee had asked for an extension of the submission date, to enable rural women to add their input to the Bill. However, the Committee's request was ignored and the Bill was passed through the National Assembly. Chairperson Xingwana suggested that the Committee express their discontent with this action.

She then acknowledged that many Members were unhappy with the Committee's Friday meetings Several Members had offered reasons why meetings be moved from Wednesdays to Fridays and why the Committee found it difficult to convene at the end of the week.

Deputy Chairperson Themba urged Members to make a commitment to the Committee, stressing that this Committee was no less important than others.

Chairperson Xingwana proposed the Committee meet on Wednesdays. She then went through the Annual Report 2003. (Please see attached document for further details.) She felt ¨National Gender Focal Points¨ in Section 4.1 (¨Oversight¨) should be changed to ¨National Gender Machinery.¨ She had not attended all of the conferences, meetings, and workshops under Section 5.1 (¨Invitations for Chairperson¨) due to budgetary constraints. She recommended that the April meeting in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in Section 8 (¨Visits¨) be erased from the record, since no one had attended. Deputy Chairperson Themba added that many had not attended the visits in Section 8 because the invitations had arrived late. Chairperson Xingwana mentioned that the Financial Statements were not available at present.

Ms N Khunou (ANC) argued that the report stated referred to issues discussed at the meeting,but failed to mention why Members had attended the meeting.

Chairperson Xingwana stated that the Committee had reports detailing the meeting' proceedings. She suggested that submissions, submission dates, and reports be provided as attachments to the Annual Report.

Deputy Chairperson Themba felt the Annual Report also needed to reflect the Draft Report and the debates concerning women's issues that had been raised in both Houses.

Chairperson Xingwana mentioned there had been debates on National Women's Day, the Domestic Violence Act, and the impact of HIV/AIDS on women and children.

Ms Khunou questioned if it was possible to write the Annual Report in the same way as the Draft Report, as doing so would make the Annual Report more informative.

Chairperson Xingwana said that the Annual Report had to be written according to the format specified by Parliament. She then went through the Draft Report. (see attached) and suggested the Committee add its own findings to Section 3.2.6 (¨Challenges¨). Referring to Section 4 (¨Recommendations¨), she expressed concern that there was no action plan for the Gender Policy Framework.

Ms S Camerer (DA) argued that departments could easily ignore the Committee's action plan and, therefore, it was necessary to implement an enforcement mechanism to ensure that the plan was put into action.

Chairperson Xingwana agreed and suggested this be one of the Committee's recommendations. The Committee tended to be more programme orientated and lacked the ability to enforce policy implementation.

Deputy Chairperson Themba asserted that each province should report their achievements in promoting women's rights annually.

Chairperson Xingwana thought the Committee should develop their own recommendations for the National OSW since there was agreement on the Report's statements about the Provincial Offices on the Status of Women (OSWs). She reiterated that enforcing implementation at both the National and Provincial level was of the utmost importance.

Ms Camerer suggested the National OSW be the enforcement mechanism for implementation at the provincial level.

Chairperson Xingwana argued that successes for women's rights should become part of the Director General's annual assessment. The issue of event-based programming needed to be addressed and suggested there be more internal programmes than international ones.

Ms M Seeco (UCDP) recommended the Director-General's report also include an assessment of the successes at the local level. She suggested the National OSW assist the Provincial OSW's in integrating programmes, while noting this would be difficult since the provinces often claimed autonomy.

The Committee voted for the adoption of the Annual Report for 2003, with amendments.

The Committee returned to discussing the Draft Report and agreed that the National OSW needed to brief the Committee once a quarter.

Chairperson Xingwana noted that the National OSW needed to address the Committee the following Wednesday on the Beijing Report before it went to the United Nations. She felt there were serious questions surrounding National OSW budget and staff ranking. Although the National OSW was ranked, it was doubtful that staff had the appropriate qualifications. Therefore, it was recommended that existing staff be audited to ensure that the ranking was correct. If additional staff were to be hired, their job-related responsibilities would have to be determined. The budget was problematic in that R2mil was far too little.

Ms Seeco asserted that provincial budgets also be increased to provide for additional human resource and staff expenditures. She recommended the National OSW be responsible for assisting the Provincial OSWs in this regard.

Ms M Maine (ANC) thought the Committee needed to meet with the National OSW to discuss the budget for retraining existing staff.

Deputy Chairperson Themba said that the Provincial OSW budget was the responsibility of the Premiers. She suggested the Provincial OSW's start focusing on local government.

Ms Maine thought the Committee needed to talk with the Premiers about providing the provincial OSW's with sufficient money to assist local governments.

Chairperson Xingwana agreed, stating that the Committee could ask the Premiers to review the OSW budget. She felt it was necessary to implement a co-ordinated national programme that could be adopted to meet the needs of localities. She thought each Province needed a committee to monitor the work of the Gender Machinery and stressed the need to assess each locality in terms of Gender Focal Points. She agreed with Deputy Chairperson Themba that the Draft Report with the Committee's recommendations needed to be sent to Premiers and provincial and local governments. She then went through the Committee Minutes for the five outstanding dates of 2003. (Please see attached document.)

The Committee voted for the adoption of the Draft Report and the Minutes, with amendments.

The meeting was adjourned.