Committee Reports on North West, Gauteng & Free State oversight visits

Meeting report

The Chairperson delayed opening the meeting and requested that the meeting commence when Mr D Stock (ANC; NC) has arrived, as he had reported that he will be late due to parliamentary commitments. Upon the arrival of Mr Stock, the chairperson immediately commenced the meeting, thereby stating the agenda and requested from the Members if any other member of the Committee had reported absence or late arrival. Only Ms L Dlamini (ANC; MPL) had reported for absence and duly apologised to the Committee. No other members had reported for absence.

Committee draft oversight report to the North West and Gauteng Province
The Chairperson took the committee through the report, to ensure that all grammatical and spelling errors were corrected appropriately. The Chairperson, along with Mrs T Mpambo-Sibhukwana (DA; WC), and Mr M Khawula (IFP; KZN) noted the grammatical and spelling errors and the other Committee members agreed with the corrections suggested.

Recommendations
On page two of the report it was noted that the Department of Sports was inserted incorrectly and, therefore, replaced appropriately as the Department of Sport and Recreation. On page four of the report, the Chairperson, asked the Members about the multipurpose centre that was designated for community upliftment purposes, whether the use or access to the centre was restricted to just only the Women’s League or women in general. Because in the report it was reflected that it was constrained to the use of the Women’s League.

Mr Mzuyanda Dlanga, Committee Secretary, noted that in the context in which a prior discussion was had it appeared that the centre was intended for use by women in general, however, he duly stated that he will confirm but he strongly believed that the latter was correct. All members then agreed on the latter, and the correction was made.

The Chairperson raised a question about the community services provided by the Department of Sports and Recreation specifically the provision of computers to the public for use and enhancement of computer literacy skills whether was there any supervision provided.

Mrs Mpambo-Sibhukwana responded that there was supervision provided but only to a certain age for children in order to ensure that the access to internet and the computers is not used inappropriately.

The Chairperson asked if the project in question initiated by the Department was also reaching out to the disability component of the community upliftment.

Mrs Mpambo-Sibhukwana responded that the relevant parties were consulted and confirmation was provided that the disability component is catered for and the project appropriately reaches out to the disability component.

The Chairperson noted on page 13, regarding the receiving and releasing schools infrastructural upgrades, because on the report it is reflected that the releasing school is subject to upgrades instead of the receiving school, because the releasing school is due to shut down and, therefore, it is the receiving schools that should be due for infrastructural upgrades since they continue operating. The Members all agreed that in actual fact it is the receiving school that is due for upgrades and the correction was made in agreement.

Discussion

Ms P Mququ (ANC; EC) asked whether it is in the best interest of the Committee to have the reports accessible to other parties in Parliament before the members of the Committee get a hold of them.

The Chairperson responded that it’s imperative that other parties have access to the reports and other relevant documents, because they contribute to the effectiveness of the committee and its prevalence. The delegation provided by other parties is crucial.

The Committee adopted the report with amendments.

Draft oversight report to the Free State
The Chairperson took the Committee through the report, for grammatical and spelling errors. The Committee went through the report, and there were no substantive amendments that were noted.

The Committee adopted the report with amendments.

Draft minutes dated 23 September 2015
The Chairperson took the Committee through the minutes.

Mr Khawula noted that he was absent in the meeting reflected in the minutes, but the minutes reflect that he was present. Mr Dlanga noted the error and corrective action will be taken. Thereafter, there were no substantive changes or corrections that were made in the draft minutes.

The Committee proceeded and adopted the draft minutes.

Discussion
The Chairperson raised a few issues regarding the Department of Higher Education and Training’s skills development and the transformation summit. The Transformation summit is said to be part of the Bill, and the summit was designated to allow the provinces to talk or provide input during the process of realising the Bill. However, the office of the House Chair could not allow the whole Committee to be present, but only two members from the Committee must be present, and the Chairperson said it will only be her and Ms Mququ that will attend the summit.

The Chairperson asked the Committee if the growth of skills development by the Department of Higher Education and Training has been covered, and indicated that if so that information needs to be made available to the committee.

All the members agreed that that information needs to be made available

Workshop
Mr Dlanga reminded the Committee Members about a workshop that will be taking place next week Wednesday the 21 October and it will be a one day workshop and Committee needs to be at the workshop before half past eight for registration. The workshop will commence at 9am. Mr Dlanga did not mention any further details about the workshop.

The Chairperson handed over to Ms W Zondi (ANC; KZN) to update the Committee on the meeting she had attended with the Minister. In a letter dated 16 September 2015, it is stated that the Committees need to respond to the issues that were raised in the community visits by Parliament.
 
Mr Dlanga noted that there are documents that still need to be obtained from the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) that the Committee is expected to go through and analyse, and compile a report from those documents. Those documents contain information about the public or community visits.

Ms Zondi also raised the issue of private Further Education and Training (FET) colleges relating to recruiting, that 90 per cent of the residents presiding in the surrounding area of the FET are poor, and the college does not admit students from the surrounding areas but only from the far outlined communities. She did not provide any further details about the place where the FET College in question is situated. She proceeded that the Minister was made aware of this issue and has responded well to it. She added that there is an issue of racism and discrimination in the private FET colleges, in response to this issue she pointed that the Deputy Minister, Mr Mduduzi Manana, and the Minister of Higher Education and Training, Mr Blade Nzimande, were supposed to meet in order to discuss this issue further. However, they have not met yet.

The Chairperson emphasised that a followed up still needs to be made regarding the public visits that the committee undertook.

The meeting was adjourned.