Education & Recreation Select Committee Programme and its Oversight Reports

Meeting report

Committee Programme 2010
Mr M De Villiers (DA, Western Cape) said that he saw an oversight visit was scheduled for 23 February to 26 February in KwaZulu Natal, and the information they received said it was going to be a joint oversight trip. He asked the Chairperson whether the oversight trip for 1 March to 5 March to Limpopo was also going to be a joint oversight trip.

The Chairperson reminded the Committee that it had been decided the previous year that the oversight would be a joint one. The Committee was only made up of 12 members and it would be problematic to divide them up. It was something that had to be discussed with Ms R Rasmeni (ANC, North West). However, whatever the Committee decided to do, they would do jointly with other committees.

Ms DZ Rantho (ANC, Eastern Cape) said that at the programming meeting they were informed of the pre-visit to Limpopo but it seemed that not all the Committee Members would be going.  She asked if the Chairperson had discussed it with the heads of the House or was it still going to be discussed.

The Chairperson replied that there had not been another chairpersons’ meeting about Limpopo, but as soon as there were any developments the Committee would be informed. The Education and Recreation Committee had been identified as one of the Committees going to Limpopo but they still needed to decide which Committee members would be going. Things would stay as they were for now because Education was a priority in Limpopo. Research and evaluation would be done at the pre-visit to prepare for when Parliament visited the area. The Committee would decide which Members to send at a later stage.

Mr W Faber (DA, Northern Cape) proposed that Committee Members only attend oversight trips that focused on their area of specialisation. Members specialised in different areas and it would make it easier if everyone did not go away at the same time.

The Chairperson said that Mr Faber’s proposal was a good idea and they could look into it. However, it would not be possible to instruct members on what to do because their respective political parties would decide on what area their members needed to focus. There were five departments that they had to oversee and it was impossible to get everyone to focus on all five. From a political side, it is the decision of members’ political parties.

Ms Rasmeni suggested that in the Committee’s future programmes they call in agencies from the Science and Technology Department to come and make presentations so that members could go deeper into issues.

The programme was adopted by all Members of the Committee.

Outstanding Minutes
Mr De Villiers reminded Members about the promises made by the Department in the 28 October 2009 minutes and recommended that they follow up on those promises.

The Committee adopted all outstanding minutes with amendments.

Report on the oversight to Nondzame Primary School, 14 October 2009
The Committee adopted the report with amendments.

Committee Annual Report 2009
The Committee adopted the Report.

Matters arising from minutes and reports
The Chairperson asked Members if there were any issues to consider.

Mr Faber said that he had two issues. The first related to the resolutions in the report. He said that the Committee needed to follow up on them so that the Department did not forget about it. The department was asked to submit their own report on the resolutions. The Committee secretary had been asked to make a list of all outstanding resolutions so that the Committee was also aware of them. His second issue was ensuring that when a Member says something in a report it clearly states which Member said it.

Ms Ranto agreed with Mr Faber’s first issue and pointed out the recommendations on page five of the Committee Report on the oversight to Nondzame Primary School also needed to be followed up to make sure that those issues were resolved.

The Chairperson reminded Members that the purpose of adopting a report was so they were able to act on it. After the adoption of the reports, the Committee could follow up on resolutions. She also agreed with Mr Faber and said that the Committee should have a to-do-list, which would give them some focus. She would ask the Committee Secretary to compile the list. On the issue of specifying Members’ names in a report the Chairperson said she would look into the matter and get back to Mr Faber at the next Committee meeting.

Conclusion
The Chairperson reminded Members that it was going to be a short year in terms of Parliament work and so they needed to stay focused in order to get the work done.

The meeting was adjourned.