Election of Committee Chairperson

Meeting report

Election of Committee Chairperson
The Committee Secretary, Ms Ajabulile Mtiya, temporarily chaired the meeting and welcomed members to the first meeting of the Committee. The purpose of the meeting was to elect a Committee Chairperson in terms of Rule 158 of the National Assembly (NA) Rules.

Ms Mtiya called upon members to nominate candidates for the position of Committee Chairperson.

Mr A Seabi (ANC) nominated Ms B Dlulane (ANC) for the position of Committee Chairperson.

Mr T Mhlongo (DA) said that he would like to close proceedings for further nominations.

Ms Mtiya asked if there were any other nominations.

In the absence of any other nominations Ms Mtiya asked Ms Dlulane whether she accepted her nomination as Committee Chairperson.

Ms Dlulane accepted her nomination and said that she was honoured to fill the position of Committee Chairperson. She firstly thanked the ANC for its confidence in nominating her as their candidate and thanked all other parties for their support as well. Most of the members of the Committee were new and she looked forward to working with all members. Even though she had been a member of the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) for ten years she too was having a new experience as a member of the NA. All members of the Committee should see themselves as new members as it was a new parliament under which they were serving. No one member knew it all. She requested members of the Committee as well as Committee Staff to introduce themselves. As requested, members and Committee Staff proceeded to introduce themselves. As far as the work of the Committee was concerned she noted that all members undoubtedly loved sport and that oversight should be done. When it came to the arts members were all on board to learn. The Committee would be guided by Committee Staff on what the Committee’s workload ahead looked like.

Ms Mtiya, taking her cue from Ms Dlulane, stated that Budget Vote 37: Arts was scheduled for 16 July 2019 and that Budget Vote 40: Sport was scheduled for 17 July 2019. The Committee was meeting the next day 3 July 2019 with the Department of Arts and Culture in the morning and the Department of Sports and Recreation in the afternoon. The meeting was scheduled to start at 9.30am and the venue was V226. The Committee would adopt its Budget Vote Reports on Tuesday, 9 July 2019. As previously stated the Budget Vote debate dates were 16 and 17 July 2019. Plenary was scheduled for 23 July 2019. Committee Staff would inform members of further developments.

The chairperson noted that the Committee needed to look at the Legacy Report of its predecessors. Members needed to work together for the benefit of South Africa. Party politics needed to be set aside.

Ms Mtiya pointed out that the Annual Performance Plan (APP) of the Department of Arts and Culture was tabled on Friday, 28 June 2019. The Committee had as yet not received its briefing documents from the Department of Arts and Culture. She hoped to receive it by 12pm today. The Committee did have the Legacy Reports and the Budgetary Review Recommendations Reports (BRRRs) of previous Committees.

The meeting was adjourned.