Committee minutes and reports

Meeting report

Opening comments:

The Chairperson began by greeting everyone present at the meeting and informing everyone that the meeting was called to only deal with minutes of various meetings. She stressed that they need to do this as soon as possible because all matters relating to Human Settlements need to be concluded before 01 April 2023.

She asked everyone present to please state their name and occupation for the record on the attendance register, and this was so done.

She then asked the Secretary of the Committee, Ms Shumeeze Jones, for the first item on the agenda to be flagged.

Committee minutes

Minutes dated 28 November 2022

The Chairperson recalled several Members who attended said meeting.

She asked for one of the names to be corrected (the name of an official within the ministry).  

Ms Jones promptly corrected this mistake.

The Chairperson read out the concerns noted in the minutes and then called for the minutes to be adopted.

The minutes were adopted.

Committee minutes dated 27 January 2023

The Chairperson asked for clarity on the spelling of one of the Member’s surnames.

She proceeded to read out some of the sections of the minutes and asked for clarity from the Members on certain items.

She asked the Members if they preferred the minutes as is or would they like to add the timeframes of the progress report.

To this, Mr I Sileku (DA) suggested adding timeframes.

The Chairperson continued to read the minutes out loud to the Members.

Ms C Murray (DA) interjected to suggest that the minutes state how land can be designated for informal traders, whether these units are being sub-letted illegally, and whether the South African Police Services (SAPS) received any reports on extortion from informal traders and what action has been taken thereof.

Ms Jones began making the necessary adjustments to the minutes, asking for clarity where she was unsure.

The minutes of this meeting were subsequently adopted.

The Chairperson acknowledged the late arrival of one of the Members of the Committee, who apologised for being late.

Committee programme

The Chairperson asked Ms Jones to go through the Committee budget, and this was done.

The Chairperson stressed the importance of the Expropriation Bill and suggested that they have ten public hearings for said Bill.

Ms Murray suggested that they rather reduce it to five (having recently come out of a public hearing herself). She further suggested that they use graphics and targeted social media to assist people with making submissions. She suggested they make a Facebook page on how to make the submissions. She suggested they use paid media such as radio since it is the most utilised media.

Mr S August (GOOD) expressed his full support of all of Ms Murray’s suggestions.

Mr Sileku suggested they look at how many districts they have in the province to make it more inclusive. He also pointed out that the advertising methods would speak to the market they are trying to reach.

The Chairperson pointed out that this process would take place in winter, and that they might get more attention than anticipated. She further stressed the importance of said Bill and the allocation of the budget.

Everyone was in agreeement with the Chairperson that they should have ten public hearings.

With this amendment, Ms Jones acknowledged that the meetings would have to be shifted to different times due to the ten public hearings. She resolved to make the necessary amendments to the budget plan. Ms Jones assured the Chairperson that management would adjust the budget to accommodate the public hearings.

Committee Quarterly Report

The Chairperson asked for clarity on some of the expenditure of the current financial year compared to the previous financial year.

Ms Jones responded that the budget plan as is does not include the ten public hearings. She said she would draw up a new plan which would include the ten public hearings.

The Chairperson asked the Members to focus specifically on attendance and to check that their names were written there.

The quarterly report was adopted.

Committee tracking document

Ms Jones mentioned that she had asked the municipalities where the outstanding information is, but they have not yet responded to her request. She said that they have thus far received information only up until 17 October 2022 and the reason for this is because they did not have resolutions for November 2022 and the minutes of January 2023 were not adopted as yet. The minutes of March 2023 and the oversight report have too not yet been adopted. She resolved to send letters to the various stakeholders after the meeting for a response. She suggested the Committee have more of these meetings to be up to date with all decisions.

To this, the Chairperson suggests they allocate an hour on Fridays (where they do not have ‘full-blown’ meetings) to hold such meetings.

The tracking document was thus adopted.

Closing comments:

The Chairperson thanked everyone for attending the meeting and said the next meeting would be about the budgets, and thereafter the Committee would receive a new name.

The meeting was adjourned.