Report on Oversight visits to the Western Cape, KZN, Mpumalanga & Gauteng

Meeting report

The Chairperson said that the Committee would deliberate on its oversight report.

The report was circulated to Members so it would be taken as read

The Committee would correct the report, looking at grammatical issues, thereafter it would look at issues that are not covered and then issues that are not covered adequately.

He asked if that road map was acceptable.

Members agreed.

Mr W Horn (DA) submitted apologies on behalf of Mr Engelbrecht.

Mr Horn asked if the Committee had received Mr Engelbrecht's individual oversight report and whether it would be included in the report that the Committee is considering today.

The Chairperson confirmed that he had received Mr Engelbrecht's report; however, it would not be included in the report under discussion today.

The Committee Secretary indicated apologies by Mr Dyanti and Mr Nqola.

The Chairperson said the Committee must discuss how to process the reports by individual members. For now, the Committee is dealing with a report that it received permission for from the Speaker’s Office to do oversight and it has to report back to the House. The other reports will have a different process. The Committee should schedule a meeting to process such reports because they are in line with a decision taken by the Committee that it will be following different forms of oversight. For private oversights, the understanding is that the committee will be made aware of this so that Members have the full support and backing of the Committee.

The Committee will look at the oversight that was conducted by the Committee both in the inland and coastal provinces.

He proposed that the Committee set a date to discuss how it planned to incorporate Members’ private oversight reports into its collective reports.

The Chairperson indicated that he had received quite a number of apologies for next week. As such, the Committee would not proceed with the Hate Crimes Bill. As Members are aware, the Committee gave Mr du Preez some time to develop a working document after the responses from the Department. The Committee will deal with the Bill in October when it returns from recess.

Bearing in mind that there is a likelihood that there will be long house sittings next Tuesday and Wednesday and that Members will be preparing to debate the two protocols and bills, he felt that they needed time to prepare their speeches and research. As such, he proposed that there be no meeting next week.

Members agreed to the proposal.

The Chairperson indicated that when it returns, the Committee will have an internal meeting to finalise its programme for the term and then proceed with the BRRR meetings.

Report on Oversight visits to Western Cape, KZN, Mpumalanga & Gauteng

The Chairperson took the Committee through the report page-by-page and invited Members to make inputs. The Committee had undertaken oversight visits in January 2022 to four provinces.

After doing so, he requested a mover for the adoption of the report, with the amendments.

Dr W Newhoudt-Druchen (ANC) moved for the adoption of the report, with the amendments.

Ms N Maseko-Jele (ANC) seconded the mover to adopt the report, with the amendments.

The Chairperson said the report was agreed to, subject to the necessary corrections. Once made, the report would be sent to the House for debate.

He indicated that the Committee would need to decide on a date, in the fourth quarter, to meet with the Executive.

The Chairperson said the Committee had not yet received a report from the coastal provinces. The inland provinces had suggested that they appointed members to look after a province and submit a report as would be necessary (the Committee had received a report from Mr Horn). Ms Ramolobeng had made an application to go to Limpopo and look at the progress being made or lack thereof. The inland provinces appealed to the coastal provinces to look into that proposal.

He added that Mr Horn would be given an opportunity to give a formal report to Members so that they are able to incorporate the progress report for Mpumalanga. The Committee hoped to do the same in other provinces.

Adv G Breytenbach (DA) said she would schedule a meeting with Mr Dyantyi to resolve the outstanding issues related to the coastal provinces.

Ms Maseko-Jele apologised for the delay in the coastal provinces compiling its report. She assured the Committee that she would submit her report in the fourth quarter.

The Chairperson said that the Committee had visited provinces and met with the Judge Presidents in all of them except the Free State and Gauteng. In the latter, there is an outstanding issue with case lines that needed to be looked at. Once the Justice and Correctional Services BRRR was finalised and tabled in the House, Members, would schedule visits to both provinces to meet the respective Judge Presidents.

Adv Breytenbach agreed with the proposal.

The Chairperson thanked the Members and Committee staff for their work in compiling the report.

The meeting was adjourned.