Committee Legacy Report; Oversight Reports: adoption

Meeting report

Welcome and Apologies
The Chairperson welcomed everyone and said apologies were received from Ms P Mocumi (ANC), who was attending another meeting, and Mr D Stubbe (DA) who was attending a meeting of the Joint Standing Committee on Intelligence. 

Adoption of Outstanding Committee Minutes
Committee Minutes dated 28 January 2014
The Chairperson stated that this document had been tabled the previous day and the Secretariat was asked to rework it.

Ms M Molebatsi (ANC) noted an amendment was needed on one of the pages to say “in agreement with” and not “in agreement to”. 

The minutes were adopted, with amendments, by Ms Sibiya and seconded by Mr S Thobejane (ANC).

Committee Minutes dated 4 March 2014
Ms Molebatsi noticed there was no venue listed for this meeting. She also questioned the use of the term “namely” on one of the pages.

Ms D Kohler-Barnard (DA) thought that the use of the term “namely” was fine from an English point of view.  

The Chairperson asked Mr Irvin Kinnes, Committee Content Advisor, to look at this as the use of the colon already suggested “namely”.

The minutes were adopted by Ms Molebatsi and seconded by Ms Sibiya.

Issues in the Media
The Chairperson highlighted the report of the incident that happened in Long Street, Cape Town, on Thursday 6 March 2014. She proceeded to read this report out. She had received a call Friday evening that the one officer was arrested and a second officer was also later arrested. Ms Kohler-Barnard made it known yesterday that the Central City Improvement District (CCID) member had also been suspended but there was no official confirmation of this yet. She noted progress would be reported on this incident and this was something for the next Committee to be made aware of. Both police officers involved in the Long Street incident had been released on bail in the meantime and they were told not to come close to the Cape Town Central Police Station while the case was ongoing and investigation continued.


The Chairperson also reported on another incident, this time in Gauteng, which was reported in the media recently. The incident was of a woman whose boyfriend had kept her hostage, raped her and then killed her child before hanging himself. It was said the police had watched this through the window and had only intervened once the assailant hung himself. She immediately wrote a letter to the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID) on the issue, once it had come to her attention, for it to be investigated and this was being done. 

Draft Report of the Portfolio Committee in Police on its 3 – 7 February 2014 Oversight Visits to Police Stations in and around East London, in the Eastern Cape Province, dated 11 March 2014
Ms Kohler-Barnard noticed some spacing errors in the text and that certain numbers needed to be written out in full. This was throughout the Report.
The Chairperson thought the findings on the SAPS 13 Stores needed to be more specific. For example, 5 tons of dagga was specifically found not just drugs.  
Ms Kohler-Barnard noted a missing “S” at the end of “SAP” on page 5.
The Chairperson asked that abbreviations be written out in full when used for the first time. She had already raised this with the administrative staff yesterday and did not want to be doing so again today.
Ms Kohler-Barnard said the first letters of “National Instruction” should be capitalised. This was needed throughout the Report.
The Report of the Oversight Visit was adopted by Ms Kohler-Barnard and seconded by Ms Molebatsi.
Adoption of Committee Legacy Report
The Chairperson urged that Members take their time with this Report as it dealt with the Committee’s activities of the five year term. She asked that the Committee come back to the first two pages of the Report at the end of the discussion.

On the mandate of the Committee, the Chairperson thought the section was missing oversight relating to the implementation of legislation.
Under the composition of the Committee, it was noted Mr V Ndlovu’s (IFP) name was spelt incorrectly.  The Chairperson also noted Mr J Sibanyoni (ANC) was never a Member of the Committee, only an alternate. She thought it was advisable to include the parties Members represented.
Members noted a number of grammatical amendments which the Report still needed.
The Chairperson highlighted that under proclamations, the Committee dealt with them 6-monthly. This would inform the next Committee that unless they were dealt with in that time, the proclamations would pile up. 
Ms Kohler-Barnard noted, under the Canada and United Kingdom study tour undertaken, that it had said the DNA legislation would be dealt with in the near future. This needed to be corrected because the Bill had already been passed.
The Chairperson remarked that this was embarrassing and this happened when a report was just “cut and paste” without looking at the content.
The section headed “Detective Training” would be amended to “Detective Services”.
The Legacy Report of the Committee was adopted, with amendments, by Ms Molebatsi and seconded by Ms D Sibiya (ANC).

Closing Remarks
The Chairperson thanked Members for their input in this administrative process. She thanked the Committee for their participation and thanked the research unit for their work done and support given to the Committee over the past five years. The Committee was seen as one which performed its oversight role without fear or favour and the role of the research unit in this and preparing Members for engagements and processes of legislation and budget must be acknowledged. She thanked the newly appointed Content Advisor and commented that in order for the Committee to exercise proper oversight over the police, it needed to ensure that its own house was “in order”. She thanked the stand-in Committee Secretary and the support provided by the Committee Section in conducting work. She thanked every single Member, those present, pass and absent, it was not an easy job being on the Police Committee but it was a satisfying one insofar as political differences were put aside to focus on what need to be done in order to provide SA public with professional SAPS they deserved. Members had made the job easier and it was a pleasure to work with them and she wished them well in their future endeavours. She thanked her own party for allowing her to lead the Committee – this was a privilege and not a right as she had to fill the “big shoes” left by her predecessor, Ms Chikunga. She thanked the Committee Whip for her assistance. She asked that Members, in their campaigning for the elections, keep in mind that it be done with integrity, with the necessary discipline and to know that in the end it was not just about parties but about taking democracy further in SA so that canvassing was not done in such a way that it harmed democracy. This was most probably the end of the road for her in terms of this Committee but it was a privilege being on the Committee for five years before spending 15 years at the regional legislature. She was sure Members would meet up in some capacity in the future.

Ms Molebatsi, on behalf of the Committee, thanked the Chairperson heartily for her diligent work on the Committee. She wished everyone well in the future.

Ms Kohler-Barnard indicated that she would retuen as an MP after the elections but knew which Committee they would be on. She thanked everyone that she had worked with on the Committee over the last seven years even though she knew she was a thorn in everybody’s side but that was probably what she would continue to be as it was her job. People came to her to say they were impressed by the way the Committee was run in terms of schedules for the year and their frequent meetings. It was an extremely well run Committee and she hoped that things were maintained to be a Committee that people looked up to as probably one of the leading Committee’s in Parliament. She thanked everyone for their hard work and thanked the incredible staff.

The meeting was adjourned.