Committee Minutes, Annual Report, Draft Programme and Workshop Reports: adoption

Meeting report

PUBLIC ACCOUNTS STANDING COMMITTEE
16 February 2005
COMMITTEE MINUTES, ANNUAL REPORT, DRAFT PROGRAMME AND WORKSHOP REPORTS: ADOPTION

Chairperson: Mr F Beukman (ANC)

Relevant documents:
Clerk’s minutes of SCOPA Subcommittee Group 2 meeting, 8 February 2005: Status Report
Correctional Services draft resolution: SCOPA Subcommittee Group 1
Committee Workshop Report
Committee draft programme

SUMMARY
The minutes and Annual Report of the Committee were unanimously adopted with minor technical amendments. The Committee was also given a breakdown of the activities of the workgroups. Resolutions and hearings were tabled where proposed. The Committee agreed to postpone discussions on its work methods, business plan and budget. The draft programme was agreed to as amended.

Minutes
The Committee systematically went through the Committee minutes and Annual Report, effecting minor spelling and grammatical changes where necessary. The minutes and report were unanimously adopted.

SCOPA Subcommittees 1 and 2 reportbacks
Ms L Mabe (ANC) reported on the activities of Workgroup Two. She said SCOPA would undertake a study tour to Tanzania later in the year. She listed their activities, including checking the preparedness of the Department of Provincial and Local Government for the upcoming elections and looking into why the income for social housing had been dropped. She concluded by tabling a Correctional Services Draft Resolution.

Mr P Gerber, represented Workgroup One, mentioned that a discrepancy existed in the amounts being charged by provincial transport departments for licensing fees. For instance, licensing fees for a particular type of vehicle were much more in the Western Cape than in Mpumalanga. Resolutions on the Competition Commission and the SA Reserve Bank were both tabled. Mr Gerber proposed that their adoption be postponed until the following week. He also proposed that a hearing be tabled, calling on the Department of Defence to present its Annual Reports for 2002/2003 and 2003/2004. Mr Gerber requested that Armscor be present at the hearing as many of the issues would be pertinent to them. The Committee unanimously adopted the Department of Defence hearing proposal.

Committee workshop report
The Chairperson placed the workshop facilitator’s report before the Committee. The report had been drafted subsequent to a workshop that had been attended by Members in Saldanha. The Chairperson identified three key areas of focus: Committee work methods, business plan and budget. Workgroup One, represented by Mr Gerber, proposed a postponement of the facilitator’s report as its group members had not had the opportunity to peruse the document. Mr V Smith (ANC) disagreed. The Chairperson proposed that Members be given until Wednesday, 23 February to peruse the documents. The Committee agreed.

Draft Committee programme
Members mostly supported of the programme, effecting changes where necessary. Deciding on which days to hold hearings took some discussion. Members were especially concerned about the Auditor-General’s briefings being scheduled a day before hearings were to be held. The common concern was the limited research capacity of groups within such a limited timeframe. The Committee agreed to hearings being scheduled for Tuesdays and Wednesdays, and It was also agreed that the A-G’s briefings would be slotted into the Committee’s programme at a later time. The Committee adopted the draft programme as amended.

The Chairperson briefly referred to a document by the National Treasury and the Auditor-General (Reference Number: AG250105RES2). Members had proposed amendments to the document in a prior meeting and it had been so amended. The Chairperson proposed that the consideration of the document be postponed until Tuesday, 22 February 2005 in order to afford Members sufficient time to scrutinise it. The Committee agreed.

The meeting was adjourned.