Committee Report on DCDT Quarter 2 Performance; Committee strategic plan

Meeting report

The Chairperson indicated that Mr C Mackenzie (DA) had submitted an apology as he would not be in the meeting.

As Mr Mackenzie had previously raised concern that some of the Committee's meetings were not live-streamed on Parliament’s YouTube channel, the Chairperson had asked broadcasting services to provide an answer. Parliament’s broadcast services explained that some meetings were not broadcast because Parliament only had ten broadcast slots to livestream on its Youtube channel. Hence it was unable to broadcast all committee meetings. When livestream on YouTube had first started last year, because there were only a few committees working during the lockdown restrictions, the broadcasting service was able to livestream all meetings. It became much more difficult to manage as more committees began to resume their work. The factors that Parliament used to determine which committee meetings to air were the principle of fairness as well as the meeting agenda. It was suggested that all work of Parliament was in the public interest.

The Committee accepted the explanation.  

Committee Report on 2020/21 Quarter 2 Performance of Department of Communications and Digital Technologies

Ms P Van Damme (DA) expressed her concern on the establishment of a national task team. As there had already been a process in court to determine the matter, she asked Committee Members if those two processes had been parallel and created unnecessary bureaucracy.

Ms Van Damme sought clarity on South African Broadcasting Corporation’s (SABC) unfunded mandates. She suggested the Committee to have a joint meeting session with National Treasury to discuss this matter. This came back to her objection to a national task team as she believed that this team would delay the process further since there is already a legal process unfolding at the moment.

Ms P Faku (ANC) concurred with Ms Van Damme’s point that a joint session with Treasury is needed to discuss the SABC’s funding model.

Mr Z Mbhele (DA) sought clarity on the presidential national task team and asked whether it was a mechanism for driving the process of both the SABC mandates and its funding model. As he had not been serving on the Committee when the decision was made, he was unsure of these things.

Ms N Khubheka (ANC) fully supported the joint meeting proposal to review SABC’s funding model. She fully supported the establishment of the national task team force and she was confident that it would not disturb the White Paper process. She reminded Members of the importance to support the state-owned SABC.

Ms Van Damme said that she heard where Members came from and their point of views. However, she cautioned against establishing another task team because of its implication on the Committee’s oversight role as well. Should the task team be formed, it would have the implication that the Committee’s hands would be tied when doing its oversight work. She reminded Members that establishing a task team means additional funding. Given the dire economy, she thus questioned whether it was wise to create a team while the work already involved a legislative process that is already doing the same thing. She believed that handling the issue of the SABC should be a matter for Parliament not the Executive.

Ms Faku said that Parliament’s role is important but the task team is essential. Over the years, she noted that those issues at the SABC still remained regardless of Parliament’s oversight role and work. She commented that the Committee does not have expertise on certain issues to assist the SABC to do better.

The Chairperson agreed with the point and said that the concern raised by Ms Van Damme had already been raised by the SABC chairperson. He reminded Ms Van Damme that the reality is that although the Committee has been dealing with the SABC’s current programmes, it has never looked at what has to be done. The establishment of the task team was not to usurp the Committee’s oversight role but to facilitate and supplement it. For instance, if SABC decides to put more channels such as education channels or health channels, the entity would need another task team as the Committee would not be able to advise the entity on such matters. Further, he reminded Members that the Committee has already failed to get more COVID-19 relief funds for the entity. In order to save the entity, this matter had to be elevated to the national level.

The report was duly adopted.

Committee strategic plan

The Committee Content Advisor briefed the Committee of the Committee’s Strategic Plan.

He highlighted the Committee’s four strategic outcomes-oriented goals, seven strategic objectives and 12 performance indicators.

The issue of digital eco system was highlighted.

Committee Annual Report for 2020

The report of the Committee on its activities undertaken during January - December 2020 was also presented to the Committee. It highlighted the areas in which the Committee had focused on in 2020 and emphasised the key entities under the Committee’s oversight.

The report required further amendment and was not adopted.

Conclusion

The Chairperson reminded Members of the constituency period and the Committee’s scheduled oversight work that had just been approved by the House. He asked Members to plan their schedules accordingly. Due to his concern for the tourism sector and the inconvenience that the Committee’s oversight visit would cause, he suggested the Committee perform its oversight visit the week after Easter. The Committee also needed to schedule in meeting slots for the subcommittee’s work on interviewing candidates for the SABC and MDDA boards.

The Chairperson briefly mentioned some other points in relation to the Committee’s programme in the second term. For instance, the Committee needed to engage with the South African Post Office as well as Facebook.

Ms Van Damme thanked the Chairperson for his leadership. She commented that although there are disagreements between Committee Members on some issues, she appreciated that Members always find some common ground and put the country first.

Ms Van Damme sought more clarity on the Committee’s engagement with Facebook. She wanted to know if a date had been fixed yet as well as the medium through which the Committee would be communicating with Facebook. Would it be a physical meeting or would it take place on the Zoom platform?

The Chairperson said that the engagement with Facebook was a proposal which the Committee had agreed upon. However, he reminded Members that it cannot be a summons and the Committee also needed to create space to have other stakeholders who are available to assist the Committee in processing such matters. The Committee’s understanding is that engagements will be guided by COVID-19 restrictions, whether physical or virtual. As for the date, the Chairperson said that it would depend on the availability of Facebook. It would be incorrect to assume that it would happen in the first week of the second term.

The meeting was adjourned.