Department of International Relations and Cooperation & African Renaissance Fund Strategic and Annual Plan: Analysis by Content Advisor; Implications of national budget for DIRCO: Departmental analysis

Meeting report

Chairperson's opening remarks
The Chairperson noted that he had had the honour of attending the funeral of the late Minister of Public Service and Administration, Hon Collins Chabane, which had been dignified.

The Chairperson asked the Committee Secretary whether reasons were given by Members for tendering their apologies, heard that they had not been, but accepted the apologies.

He noted that although the Committee had been due to meet with the Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO or the Department) on the following day, this had had to be postponed since the Minister and Director-Generals were out the country. However, he noted that the Committee should receive the briefings today in order to be well-prepared for the meeting when it happened.

Key issues arising from the Strategic Plan 2015-2019 and Annual Performance Plan 2015/16 of the Department of International Relations and Cooperation: Committee Content Advisor's briefing
The Chairperson asked the Committee Content Advisor, Ms Lineo Mosala, to alert the Committee specifically whether the DIRCO had the capacity, resources, and budget to execute the mandate given to it.

Ms Lineo Mosala proceeded to give a presentation to the Committee on the key issues emanating from DIRCO’s Strategic Plan for 2015-2019. She noted that certain policy initiatives had been highlighted for the next five years, which included:
- Preparation of the Foreign Service Bill, which would be drafted and passed to fulfil administrative and management responsibilities within the framework of South Africa’s (SA’s) legislation, and which would allow flexibility for its operations abroad

- Formal establishment of South African Development Partnership Agency (SADPA). This Agency was initially approved in principle by the Cabinet in 2009 with the intention that it would deal with all outgoing development assistance. However, the exact shape and development of SADPA was still unknown. The Department wanted to understand how SADPA would fit with the other government agencies, and what exactly its function and structure must be, and how it would access other government functions. A Bill to formally establish SADPA had not yet been presented to Parliament.
- Repeal of African Renaissance Fund Act, and replacement of its functions within the SA Partnership Fund for Development

- Dealing with challenges with National Treasury around, in particular, concurrence of functions.

The performance environment was aligned with the prescripts of the National Development Plan (NDP). In particular, the DIRCO aimed to enhance SA’s position in the region and world; align missions; increase trade and investment; and deepen integration with groupings of the South region. The environment was unpredictable and insecure, due to the global economic crisis. It had seen the rise of emerging powers resulting in formation of new economic and political groupings (India-Brazil-South Africa(IBSA), and Brazil-Russia-India-China-South Africa (BRICS). Fortunately, SA’s economy was increasingly linked to these emerging economic powers.

The Department identified the lack of adequate infrastructure and industrial capacity as an obstacle to intra-African regional trade. The Department also identified that developing countries were experiencing "youth bulge". The Department recognised the need to address skills development and youth employment since failure to do this would carry a serious risk of social and political instability.

In its own organisational environment, the Department had introduced a structure review which involved the reorganising of functions and the cost effective reduction of branches. The Department moved from having eleven branches to nine branches.

In the Department's plan, the strategic objectives were outlined per programme and risks attributable for each programme discussed. All strategic objectives were linked to the NDP.

Ms Mosala highlighted these to the Committee.

In Programme 1: Administration, the strategic objectives are to:

- Provide and manage secure Information and Communication Technology (ICT) infrastructure

- Enhance financial management so that the Department's audit results would move from qualified to unqualified audit

- Minimise security risks

- Structure support, to achieve strategic objectives; decrease vacancy rate from 13.5% to 10%

- Rely on research to advise on unfolding foreign policy trends

- institute effective internal controls and internal audits

The risks attributable to Programme 1, and how the Department planned to deal with these issues were set out as follows:

- To address the inadequate accountability by departments to missions, DIRCO intended to enhance the current Memoranda of Understanding (MOUs) with other departments
- In order to address the inadequate implementation of ICT governance processes, the Department planned to monitor governance committees

- Inadequate ICT service delivery was recognised, and the Department planned to modernise ICT infrastructure which had been a long standing challenge

- To address the lengthy decision-making processes, DIRCO now planned the delegation of authority/Chief Of Operations (COO)

- To deal with hitherto inadequate emergency response, DIRCO planned to implement an emergency response policy (many disasters)

For Programme 2: International Relations, Ms Mosala outlined the strategic objectives to:

- Strengthen political and economic partnerships in various regions of the world (Africa, Asia & Middle East, Americas and Caribbean, Europe)

- Prioritise increased exports of SA’s goods and services, through an  increase in Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), an increase in the value-added industries and mineral beneficiation; increase inbound tourism, skills enhancement and transfer of technology

The Department had then set out certain risks and how it planned to deal with them in Programme 2, as follows:

- Non-adherence to Coordination mechanism would be dealt with through the Department's plans to use credentials to control composition and size of delegations

- To deal with the unfunded mandates, DIRCO planned to reprioritise spending and make necessary budget adjustments

- Inappropriate composition of official delegations would be tackled by the use, by DIRCO, of certain set credentials to control composition and size of delegations

Programme 3: International Cooperation had the following strategic objectives:

- Continue with the African aims central to foreign policy. Here, the DIRCO planned to contribute to socio-economic development of Africa through African Renaissance Fund (ARF); support Agenda 2063; strengthen African Union (AU) structures; revitalise the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) and support African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM)
Ms Mosala highlighted that this programme had four subprogrammes: Global Governance; Continental Cooperation; South-South; North-South cooperation

She highlighted the strategic objectives for each. Global Governance strategic objectives were:

-Reform of global governance institutions and secretariats to better address needs of developing countries;

-Peaceful resolution of international conflicts

-Contribute to global peace and security

-Provide international legal advice

-Influence outcomes to reflect SA’s interest

African Agenda strategic objectives were to:

- Advance SA’s positions in AU summits, AU Peace and Security and APRM processes

- Support NEPAD Infrastructure project; lobby support for NEPAD

- Contribute to peaceful resolution of conflicts, peace missions, and election observer missions

- Achieve political and economic integration of SADC

- Contribute to peace, stability, socio-economic development, good governance, democracy, and to strengthen SADC structures

- Support regional integration and review of the Regional Indicative Strategic Development Plan (RISDP)

South-South cooperation strategic objectives were to:

- Strengthen the competitive and complementary strength of countries and groupings of the South

- Advance national interest and priorities through advancing the African Agenda and agendas of the South

- Influence resolutions to reflect national interest

South-North cooperation strategic objectives were to:

- Advance and leverage national priorities, the African Agenda and development agenda of the South, with the formations of the North

For Programme 3, the DIRCO had similarly identified certain risks and set out how it planned to deal with them. Non-adherence to coordination and lack of adequate representation in regional and multilateral organisations would both be addressed through a Consultative Forum on International Relations and Coordination

Programme 4: Public Diplomacy and Protocol Services had the following strategic objectives:

- Have annual public diplomacy strategy which will enhance understanding and awareness of South Africa’s foreign policy

- Complete a perception study

- Protocol Services

- Provide protocol services as required

Risks attributable to Programme Four were non-compliance with Protocol prescripts and uncoordinated international visits

Programme 5: International Transfers aimed to honour South Africa’s financial obligations and voluntary contributions to international organisations. It would also effect transfers to the ARF

Risks attributable to Programme 3 were centred on:
- Foreign exchange fluctuations – which the Department planned to deal with  through budget adjustment processes

- Non payment of assessed contributions by partner departments would be dealt with through increased coordination to pay

Ms Mosala suggested that the Committee should question the Department on some of the issues highlighted - such as non-payment of assessed contributions - to ask it to unpack the underlying reasons and problems.

In relation to the infrastructure and other capital plans, Ms Mosala raised the pressing issue of property leased by the state. She pointed out that this was problematic because it cost more to lease, over the long term, that to acquire the property outright, largely due to the instability and fluctuation of lease payments, due to the changing exchange rates. Currently, the Department was assessing whether it would be better to acquire or lease property. Ms Mosala also noted that under arrangements of Public Private Partnerships (PPPs), government would buy land, then hire a private company to develop the property and maintain it for a period, after which it could fully revert to the state. If such arrangements were made then, as approved by Cabinet, the state would only acquire full ownership of the building at the end of September 2034.

Moving on to the African Renaissance Fund, she explained that this Fund was established through an Act of Parliament in 2000, and fell under DIRCO. It was set up to respond to requests for development funding, humanitarian assistance and promotion of good governance. The ARF had had many challenges, which prompted the Cabinet approving the establishment of the South African Development Partnership Agency (SADPA) to manage, coordinate and facilitate all South African official outgoing development cooperation assistance. SADPA was established, in principle, in 2009.

The Department’s budget had been reduced in comparison to the previous year, and it had a budget for 2015/16 of R5.69 billion. She noted that the budget reduction would lead to the discontinuation of contracts with certain service providers (such as consultants and translators), and the freezing or abolition of certain posts. However, the ARF would not be affected, because it had a revolving revenue and its own funds, separate from the allocation to the DIRCO.

Ms Mosala then moved on to discuss the Annual Performance Plan (APP) for 2015/16. This emphasised that in this financial year, the DIRCO would be concentrating on the following programmes and sub-programmes:
1) Global Governance, comprising:

- Continental cooperation

- Increase uptake of South Africa’s quota in African Union (AU) structures

- Support of post conflict reconstruction and development, and political reform in the Great Lakes region

- Putting into operation the Peace and Security Framework for the Great Lakes Region (SA, Angola, DRC)

- Review of RISDP towards a free trade area

2) South-South Cooperation, which was subdivided into aims to:

- Consolidate and strengthen relations and positions with countries and groupings of the South

- Chair of G77 plus China for development Agenda

- Participate in Non Alignment Movement, Forum for China Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) Summit, 7th BRICS summit, IBSA Ministerial meetings

3) North-South Cooperation, where the DIRCO would:

- Continue pursuing beneficial political and economic relations with countries and formations of the North

- Have engagements with EU, Korea, Nordic countries, TICAD (Japan with Africa) Summit in Africa for the first time

4) Operational Capacity

5) Development Cooperation, which would comprise efforts to:

- Repeal the African Renaissance Fund legislation, in conjunction with tabling the new arrangements for the Partnership Fund for Development,

- Provide a legislative framework for establishing SADPA

- Continue to play roles in AU, SADC, NEPAD; ARF as a tool for achieving strategic objectives in these structures

Ms L Mosala mentioned the following areas as needing close oversight and attention from the Committee:
MOUs; uncoordinated visits, representation in international organisations; and uncoordinated messages internationally. She also suggested that the Committee pay careful attention and ask for reports on inappropriate delegations; non payment of assessed contributions; foreign exchange fluctuations; non payment to missions; coordination mechanisms.

Ms Mosala concluded that the recommendations made previously by the Committee to the DIRCO had been highlighted and incorporated into the Strategic Plans. She said that this was a positive move on the part of DIRCO. She stressed the role of the Committee in continuing to highlight and ensure that risks identified by the Department were properly managed.

Discussion

The Chairperson thanked Ms Mosala for the informative and comprehensive presentation.

Mr S Mokgalapa (DA) also thanked Ms Mosala for her presentation and commended her on a very thorough assessment of the Strategic and Annual Plans. He also thanked her for highlighting the good work that DIRCO had achieved.  He asked whether the presentation was referring to the old or new Chapter Seven of the NDP. He asked to what extent the DIRCO relied on consultants and service providers. He suggested that, with regard to Memorandums of Understanding, the Department needed to partner with other relevant departments and agencies, and that a clause noting the interest of DIRCO in monitoring leases should be inserted into all MOUs.

Mr Mosala asked how the Foreign Service Bill would assist South Africa in dealing with certain issues. He corrected Ms Mosala and pointed out that the SADPA was in fact not operational, despite its establishment in terms of the Cabinet resolution. He asked how it could be assured that the ARF projects and money would be transferred in order to continue with coordinated efforts. He also wanted to know how problems of concurrent authority and functions would be addressed, and suggested that the Committee must work with DIRCO to come up with a way to resolve this, as it was hindering progress. He stated that the success of SADPA rested on the concurrence with National Treasury. He argued that, despite the passage of five years, SADPA had still not been processed into formal legislation because of the issues of concurrence and asked how this would be addressed, to deal with the issue finally.

Ms Mosala agreed that SADPA was not operational. She explained that the Cabinet established it in principle in 2009, but that the Department wants to establish it formally.

Mr L Mpumlwana (ANC) also thanked Ms Mosala for the presentation. He sought clarity around the problem with exchange rates. He asked whether the budget was structured in such a way that it could deal with and accommodate the fluctuating exchange rates, especially since the Department mentioned the same issue the previous year. He wondered if the DIRCO had any plans to avert the problem in this year, and if there was in fact any change from last year.

Ms O Maxon (EFF) commended Ms Mosala on the presentation, and asked the Chairperson to rule on whether she was permitted to ask political questions.

The Chairperson reminded the Committee that some questions, such as those of a political nature, could not be answered by Ms Mosala and Members should rather reserve these and put them to the Minister or Deputy Minister. Ms Mosala could only answer administrative questions.

Ms Maxon said that she wanted some clarity on para-diplomacy and why South Africa had a lack of representation at certain levels. She would like to receive the White Paper on Foreign Policy. She wondered what sort of intervention DIRCO would need, from the Committee, with regard to SADPA. She asked why the Department was doing away with the ARF.

Ms Maxon noted the challenges mentioned under performance environment, but asked what was being done to address these issues, and what initiatives were being introduced. She wondered why the problem of ICT was being brought to the Committee, when this was surely something that the DIRCO itself should be addressing. She asked what reform on global governance meant, and what needed to be done. With reference to the organogram, she asked what the difference was between Branch One and Branch Four. She commented that the Committee should be very concerned with the fact that the PPP initiative was a Cabinet decision.

Ms Mosala explained that the operational challenges presented by the ARF warranted the change and the replacement of the Fund with a new structure.

Ms T Kenye (ANC) also commended the presentation. She asked what would happen to staff in the course of re-structuring of the DIRCO and its programmes, and whether they would be retrenched or re-located. She was concerned that there was no mention of the evaluation of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which were, after all, a global issue, and suggested that this must take place. She was also concerned with the suggestion to restructure the ARF and asked what would happen to the current funds, and whether they would simply be transferred to SADPA. She voiced her concern about the uncertainty and lack of clarity around SADPA, especially since it has been five years since its approval

Ms S Kalyan (DA) commended the thorough way that Ms Mosala had approached the evaluation. She noted that the budget would need to be formally presented to the Committee by the Minister and Director General of DIRCO and asked when this was scheduled to happen. She sought clarity around South African Council on International relations (SACOIR); and asked for the list of role players, who SACOIR were, the recommendations it had made, who that Council has served, how often it met and what it had achieved. Ms Kalyan also wanted to know the current status of the Foreign Service Bill and stated that it had not been brought to Parliament. She asked if this Committee had had a formal workshop around the NDP, in order to fully brief and equip the Committee on how it affected the foreign policies. She noted that when she had recently attended the European Union (EU) Conference, she had visited the disaster centre, which was populated with a number of screens focusing on different areas, which were closely monitored so that the staff were able to note changes and pick up forewarning of disasters in advance. That would help in better managing the disasters.

The Chairperson said that Ms Kalyan was correct, and he had invited the Minister to present the budget to the Committee. The Minister noted that attendance of Committee meetings had been delegated to the second Deputy Minister, because the Minister was constantly travelling and effectively had noted a permanent apology. He would, however, ask the Minister to attend the budget meeting and added that the Minister had not attended a Committee meeting for the last five years. He also agreed on the need for a workshop.

Ms Mosala said that the Department could be asked to give an update and explanation on the Foreign Service Bill. As far as she was aware, the delay had been caused by concurrence issues.

Ms D Raphuti (ANC) commented that the youth were often engaging in undesirable activities and wondered if the DIRCO had any specific plans to involve the youth. She asked how many researchers were employed by DIRCO and whether it had funds invested in research and development, especially since research was one of the ANC’s priorities. She asked if the African Peer Review was still being done and where it was based. She asked what the progress was on South Africa's desire to play a pivotal role in the United Nations Security Council.

Mr M Lekota (COPE) stated that it was useful to have a sense of the Department’s administrative information. However, he stressed that the Department should rather be placing its energy into political issues. In his view, the Minister should be focusing on strengthening the SADC and the AU, should be supporting the progress of peace in Sudan and joining the battle against the Islamic State. He asked to what extent the other African countries were meeting their responsibilities to fight terrorism and war. He asked how many African countries were making their contribution and paying their annual membership fees. He believed that in fact this was a problem, because those fees were used by the AU to carry out its programmes and mandates. He stressed the need to invest more on issues as Africa, and believed that if Africa did not emulate the lead that was shown by the EU in investing into regional issues, it would not be able to focus international attention on its issues. He commented that the former colonial powers were effectively dictating the issues for focus, because funding was received from them.

Mr M Maila (ANC) thanked Ms Mosala on her well-researched information. He felt that there was a need for reform of the International Criminal Court (ICC) institutions, which he believed to be unfair and biased. He argued that atrocities occurring in Africa were harshly criticised, but those occurring in the West were treated in a different and less harsh way.

Ms Mosala explained that there were two schools of thoughts when it came to the ICC. The AU believed that a sitting president of a country should not be subjected to the processes of the ICC. She pointed out that many of the cases the ICC had received on Africa were from the African nations. She said that perhaps the Committee needed to have a separate session where she would be able to expand on this and discuss it in more detail.

The Chairperson agreed with the AU’s thoughts, but did not believe that any president of a nation should be allowed to indulge in criminal activity, such as killing people, without facing the consequences.

Mr B Radebe (ANC) voiced his concern about the budget cuts and particularly how those would affect translators. He asked for the Committee to be shown the exact areas where there would be budget and staffing cuts so that the importance of these areas could be discussed as a committee. He stressed that services provided by translators should not be reduced; they played an important role and he stressed that the country did not want to undermine anyone coming into the country through losing, by lack of translation, what those people were saying. He spoke about the need for the Department and Committee to be trained on conduct and behaviour in and outside the country, because they were a reflection of South Africa.

The Chairperson noted again that Ms Mosala did not need to attempt to answer any of the political questions, but instead note them and forward those questions on to the Parliamentary Liaison Office for the DIRCO.

The Chairperson noted the need to strengthen para-diplomacy. He made an observation that trade between South Africa with the North, Asia and Africa as a whole would not change the economic power dynamics, unless Africa were to put up a fight. He stated that South Africa was at an advantage because of its youth and this would mean that it would be a larger consumer for many years to come, in comparison to a country like China, where the population was declining and there were fewer youth.

The Chairperson also noted that since 1945 the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank had been issuing conditional loans and grants along with structural adjustment programmes. He also stressed that there was no such thing as a friend in the international system, because each country had its own interests at heart, so that countries such as China would seek to exploit Africa, and African leadership must be alert to this. He also pointed out that one weakness was that South Africa is unable to broker peace for money, and that South Africans were not bringing or creating any business for the country when they travelled around the world to broker peace. These observations should be made strongly to the Minister, for her to pass on to the President.

The Chairperson echoed Mr Maila’s concerns about the ICC being biased and unfair. He stated that the Committee would need to look at all foreign policy documents.

The National Budget for 2015: Implications for DIRCO and ARF: Departmental analysis
Mr David Madlala, Analyst, Department of International Relations and Cooperation, addressed the Committee on the particular implications of the recent Minister of Finance's Budget presentation for the DIRCO, from both a global economic and African perspective.

The Minister of Finance, Mr Nhlanhla Nene, had noted in his budget speech that from a global perspective, economic growth was expected to remain sluggish over the period ahead, rising from 3.3% in 2014 to 3.5% this year. In the United States, 3.6% growth is expected this year, but in Europe the outlook remains weak. In emerging markets and developing economies, growth of about 4.5% is expected. China’s growth is expected to slow to 6.8% this year. Minister Nene noted that, in relation to South Africa’s neighbours in Africa, the recent shifts in commodity prices would benefit some countries and disadvantage others. South Africa’s major commodity exports had been negatively affected by the global slowdown, but South Africa’s deepening trade and investment links with sub-Saharan Africa continued to offer favourable growth prospects.

In terms of South Africa’s growth potential, Minister Nene noted that South Africa’s primary challenge would be to deal with the structural and competitiveness challenges that were holding back production and investment. South Africa’s projected economic growth for 2015 was just 2%, down from the 2.5% indicated in October last year. South Africa expected growth to rise to 3% by 2017. Short-term growth is likely to come from sectors such as tourism, agriculture, light manufacturing and housing construction.

The Medium-Term spending focus for DIRCO will be on continuing to sustain South Africa’s international economic and political relations, and to participate in global governance forums,and on enhancing DIRCO’s operational capacity.

Going into more detail on these points, Mr Madlala said that in the area of sustaining relations, the DIRCO will continue to participate in multilateral forums, including AU structures. The Department remained committed to regional integration through its participation in the SADC. The Department will continue to promote post-conflict reconstruction and development, as well as participate in political reform in the Great Lakes Region. These and other activities would be funded, over the medium term, from R9.4 billion in the International Relations Programme (Programme 2) and R1.5 billion in the International Cooperation Programme (Programme 3).

With regard to enhancing operational capacity, the Department intended to redefine its outgoing development cooperation over the medium-term, and it planned to table the Partnership Fund for Development Bill, in order to repeal the African Renaissance and International Cooperation Fund Act (2000) and provide a legislative framework for the establishment of the South African Development Partnership Agency (SADPA). He added that the DIRCO further intended to table the Foreign Services Bill over the medium term. The work associated with both development cooperation and development of the Foreign Services Bill was funded through the Administration Programme 1.

He noted that the Department’s international property portfolio consists of 133 state owned properties and 800 rented properties. The Department spends approximately R575 million per year on leases where it did not own property. The Department will assess the viability of an acquisition and disposal strategy. This would comprise both a risk assessment and cost-benefit analysis. The Department will also be completing the construction of chanceries and official residences in Tanzania, Malawi and the Netherlands.

Mr Madlala then moved on to speak about the spending focus areas for each programme of DIRCO, over the medium term. The spending for Programme 1 would focus on providing property and office management services to the Department, as well as modernising its ICT infrastructure. The Programme 2 spending focus would continue to be on facilitating socio-economic development, by strengthening bilateral cooperation with individual countries, particularly throughout the rest of Africa, Europe, Asia and the Middle East. The Programme 4 focus was around enhancing programmes that created public awareness of South African international policy and dissemination of national priorities, policies and programmes locally and abroad. It would also spend on facilitating incoming and outgoing diplomatic visits to South Africa. Programme 5 spending focus would be on making transfers to the public entity, and timeous payment of South Africa’s membership fees to international organisations.

Mr Madlala explained that there were budget reductions in all the programmes. He had noted the Committee's earlier request to break down where the reductions occurred across all the programmes.

Programme 1 consists of audit services, financial management, diplomatic training, research and development and foreign fixed rate. He explained that the reductions took place in audit services, and increases took place in financial management, foreign fixed rate and diplomatic training, research and development.

Reductions took place in all of Programme 2’s sub-programmes.

The majority of the Programme 3 budget goes to Global Systems of Governance and Continental Cooperation, which had both seen an increase in their budgets. However, the budget for South-South Cooperation and North-South Dialogue had been reduced.

In Programme 4, there was a reduction already in Public Diplomacy, and Mr Madlala explained that this sub-programme also expected further reductions. This was undoubtedly of concern to the Committee, because the Committee had stressed the need for more funding and priority to be given to public diplomacy.

Programme 5 constituted of contributions to International Organisations (by way of membership fees) and there had been a reduction in the ARF budget.

Overall, the budget allocation for the Department for 2015/16 had declined by R405.7 million the previous financial year, and this reduction was spread across all five programmes. The reduced allocation to DIRCO was in line with fiscal adjustments already announced in the 2014 Medium Term Budget Policy Statement, which had indicated that the aggregate national expenditure would have to be reduced by R25 billion over the 2015 MTEF. As part of this overall reduction, the spending of national departments had to be reduced by a total of R2.3 billion in 2015/16 and capital spending would also be reduced by R280 million, mostly achieved through decreasing budgets for non-core goods and services and non-critical items of machinery and equipment.

Cabinet had approved budget reductions of R335.3 million in 2015/16, R467.1 million in 2016/17 and R168.5 million in 2017/18. All of these reductions would be effected through items for non-essential goods and services, compensation of employees and transfers to the African Renaissance and International Cooperation Fund. The Fund had sufficient cash reserves to absorb the impact of the reductions and its operations would not be affected. The Fund’s total budget for 2015/16 is R154 million.

Chairperson's closing remarks

The Chairperson thanked Mr Madlala, his sentiments also being echoed by other Members. He noted that questions from the Committee should be reserved and put to the Minister. He repeated that he would be writing to the Minister, asking that she meet with the Committee to discuss the budget.

He noted that the next meeting would take place on 15 April. Training for Members was scheduled for 21 to 24 April and he urged all to attend. A workshop on the National Development Plan would be organised to assist the Committee in being more effective and efficient.

The meeting was adjourned.