First Term Programme 2012; Fourth Term Sessional Report

Private Members' Legislative Proposals and Special Petitions

08 February 2012
Chairperson: Mr S Thobejane (ANC) (Acting)
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Meeting Summary

The Committee undertook provincial visits in the week of 17 January, which were very successful. The visits were to the KwaZulu-Natal, Gauteng, and Limpopo Legislatures. The Chairperson gave a brief summary of all the visits.

Adoption of First Term Programme 2012
The programme was adopted with amendments.

Adoption of Minutes
Minutes of Committee meeting held on 9 November 2011 were adopted with amendments.

Fourth Term Sessional Report
The report was adopted with amendments.

Meeting report

Opening Remarks
The Chairperson announced that Mr P Pretorius (DA) was no longer a member of the Committee as he had been redeployed by his party to the Western Cape.

The Chairperson noted that the Committee undertook provincial visits during the third week of January 2012 January, which were very successful. The Committee had visited the KwaZulu-Natal Legislature, where it had some difficulty in meeting the members there, but it was a well-informed session. The Committee then proceeded to the Gauteng Legislature and had a very successful meeting there and realised the importance of working with the municipalities. One of the major challenges was how to bring all the legislatures together and take the municipalities on board in the execution of their responsibilities. The final visit was to the Limpopo where the Committee was not able to meet with its counterparts in the provincial legislature, but had a session with the managers.

This meeting should have looked at the reports emanating from those visits but internal challenges had bogged the Committee down. The Committee Secretary was not available and was replaced by Mr King Kunene. That had not been communicated to the Chairperson.

The Chairperson welcomed Members to the 2012 business year and hoped that the morning’s events did not characterise the year ahead.

There was a possibility that the meeting would have to be cancelled due to lack of quorum. Some time was wasted in waiting for more Members to arrive; the traffic was particularly bad.

First Term Programme 2012
The Committee studied the programme in detail.

Ms Kubayi noted an error in that the constituency period ended on 13 April and not 16 April.

The Chairperson said there would have to be a slot to report on the visit to the provinces.

The Chairperson felt space was needed to discuss arrangements for the study tour to Canada.

The Committee should also work towards calling a Petitions Summit with provincial representatives and take it forward. That would need to be planned well in advance as it required interaction with the Office of the Speaker and the Office of the Chief Whip and the Chair of Chairs. That was beyond the Committee, it was about Parliament.

The Committee must move towards finalising the dates of the study tour and the dates of the Indaba.

Ms Kubayi asked how many new proposals there were. She noted that there was a report on Private Members’ Legislation in terms of progress on the legislative proposals that went to the National Assembly Programme Committee (NAPC) that was chaired by the Speaker. That report had indicated that there were a number of proposals that the Committee had not dealt with. She suggested trying to trace that.

The Chairperson said Ms Sipamla (Committee Researcher) would find out how many new proposals were waiting there.

The programme was adopted with amendments.

Outstanding Committee Minutes
The minutes of Committee meeting held on 9 November 2011 were considered.

Ms Kubayi said the problem with late minutes was that memories were not fresh. The minutes should have been adopted before the end of the year. She requested that minutes of the previous week should be adopted while minds were still fresh so that it was a true reflection of discussion.

The Chairperson replied that the suggestion would be taken on board with the Secretary.

Ms Kubayi noted that Ms Mdaka’s name was not mentioned at all. That would be corrected.

The minutes were adopted with amendments.

Fourth Term Sessional Report
The Committee considered the draft report.

Ms Kubayi said that the ANC had changed its members and that had been ATC’d. She asked that the Committee Section check the list and reflect what was reflected on the ATC.

Ms M Molebatsi said her initials were M A and not A M.

Ms Kubayi was not happy with the report of the meeting on 23 November that was cancelled because ‘the majority of Members were absent resulting in no quorum’. The way the sentence was constructed was problematic and should be reworded. Sometimes Members were absent on site visits or other business of Parliament.

Under public hearings Ms Kubayi did not agree that the Committee was a technical screening committee.

It was agreed that the sentence should be rephrased.

Ms Kubayi stated that people who did not attend meetings should be taken off the membership list.

The Chairperson replied that they were co-opted Members that assisted to form a quorum when necessary.

The report was adopted with amendments.

The Chairperson welcomed the new Member, Mr Dumisani Ximbi (ANC).

The meeting was adjourned.




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