Briefing by Department of State Security on General Intelligence Laws Amendment Bill: postponed

Meeting report

Opening remarks
The Chairperson said attendance of the meeting by Members had been affected by the fact that the Committee was new. The Committee would nevertheless receive a briefing from the Department of State Security on amendments made to the General Intelligence Laws Amendment Bill. The amendments had been agreed to and processed by the National Assembly (NA), and the Bill had now been referred to the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) for consideration.

The Chairperson thought it ideal for Members to receive the presentation today, but time did not allow for this. He therefore proposed that the Committee consider engaging the presentation the following day, as all of the afternoon was open and could thus be used to further deliberate on the Bill. He asked if Members supported the position.

Members agreed to this proposal.

The Chairperson handed over to the presenter to commence the presentation.

Ms C Dikgale (ANC: Limpopo) interjected and said she had thought the meeting was being postponed to the following day. It was only logical to postpone, because Members had had a long day. A one and a half hour deliberation was too short on such an important matter, and Members would find it hard to concentrate after coming out of the plenary.

Mr F Adams (ANC: WC) agreed with his colleague and said it was his impression too that the meeting was being postponed to the next day. Members would not be doing justice to the presentation if they accepted it now; ideally the Committee should give the Bill at least four hours. If the meeting sat at 14h00 tomorrow it would have enough time to receive the presentation and there would still be enough time to reflect on it.

The Chairperson said that what he had suggested was that the presentation should carry on, but if the meeting ran short of time, then the following day’s afternoon could be used for deliberations. He nevertheless accepted the view that the meeting be postponed until the next day. The venue for the meeting would be S12A, at 2pm.

He enquired from the departmental delegation if it was happy with the arrangement, and if the delegation would be available for tomorrow’s engagement.

The Department indicated that they were available for the next day.

The meeting was adjourned.