Election of Chairperson; Committee Programme

Meeting report

Election of Chairperson

Mr Lubabalo Sigwela, Committee Secretary, explained the voting process to the members of the Committee and called for nominations.

Mr B Radebe (ANC) nominated Mr Moses Siphosezwe Amos Masango to be the Chairperson of the Committee.

Ms T Kenye (ANC) seconded the nomination.

Mr Masango accepted the nomination. With no other nominations and objections, Mr Masango was the new elected Chairperson.

Opening Remarks

The Chairperson congratulated all the members that were nominated by their parties to be part of the Portfolio Committee. He noted that Parliament had to deploy some members to serve on the Southern African Development Community Parliamentary Forum (SADCPF) and the Pan-African Parliament and this included some members of the Portfolio Committee on International Relations and Cooperation.

The Chairperson acknowledged that the members of the Committee were from different backgrounds and had a variety of expertise; however as a unit each Member’s contribution would be fruitful. The Department that the Committee would be doing oversight on was not one that dealt with a static political and diplomatic environment. The Department functioned in an evolving context. Though each party would have different stances on a situation, outside the Committee Members should communicate the same view and information.

Dr P Jordan (ANC) was acknowledged by the Chairperson for his expertise and many years of exposure in international relations in South Africa and in Africa, an outstanding scholar and a contributing writer to newspapers. His presence in the Committee would add a lot of value.

The Chairperson said that the Committee would have to look at issues raised in the National Development Plan and the State of the Nation  address in 2013 and 2014 to see what spoke to international relations and if the Department had started to examine and attended to these. Some things were brought up by the President in 2013 but they could only be finalised by the Fifth Parliament, for instance the Grand Inga Power Project Treaty with Congo.

Adoption of draft programme

Mr S Mokgalapa (DA) proposed the adoption of the draft Committee programme. Ms C Dudley (ACDP) seconded the proposal.  With no objections the draft programme of the Portfolio Committee was adopted.

Meeting was adjourned.