Hon Deputy Speaker and hon members, the Portfolio Committee on Defence and Military Veterans resolved to hold a strategic planning workshop jointly with the Joint Standing Committee on Defence. The objectives of the joint workshop were to consolidate focus areas of work; strengthen working relations; improve the quality of oversight capacity of the Department of Defence and Military Veterans as well as related defence structures such as the SANDF, Defence Service Commission, Military Ombud and the defence industry; and to avoid duplication in the work of the respective committees.
Hon Deputy Speaker, some of the key challenges that were identified relate to the role of the defence committees. I will address this when I am on proposed recommendations. The other area is the membership of the Joint Standing Committee on Defence. This committee is too huge and very difficult to manage. On numerous occasions, if not every occasion, a quorum is unattainable and this impacts negatively on decision-making. With regard to the sanction in terms of noncompliance with the Rules of Parliament, the workshop felt that the sanction was not sufficient when a member who was in a meeting divulged information that was discussed in a closed meeting, especially the sanction of the docking of one month's salary of that the relevant member. Therefore, this needs to be revised.
The workshop made the following proposals to deal with the challenges: that the draft defence strategy recommendations will inform the workings of both committees; the overlapping of activities be addressed by redefining the roles and responsibilities of the two defence committees to ensure optimal synchronisation and avoid duplication; and that the composition of the committees be changed by a decision of the Joint Rules Committee. This amendment should take into account section 228(3) of the Interim Constitution 1993, which deals with the composition of the Joint Standing Committee on Defence.
To eliminate duplication, the broad key mandate of both committees, which would inform their operations, were defined as follows: The Joint Standing Committee on Defence should consider and report on the deployment of the SA National Defence Force, SANDF, in fulfilment of international obligations or in defence of the country; and make recommendations to the House on a declaration of the state of readiness by the President. The Portfolio Committee on Defence and Military Veterans should exercise oversight over the Department of Defence and Defence-related entities, including the Defence Force Service Commission.
In conclusion, hon Deputy Speaker, the workshop and the investment therein have been groundbreaking in that it has resolved long outstanding matters of duplication and the focus of the two committees. It has ensured the necessary clarity and it will go down in the history of the Fourth Parliament as a milestone in addressing oversight. Both committees proposed that the Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Defence and Military Veterans and the Co- chairperson of the Joint Standing Committee on Defence should write to the Speaker and the Chairperson of the NCOP respectively to propose amendments to the relevant Rules of Parliament, especially those pertaining to the membership of the Joint Standing Committee on Defence for this Fourth Parliament. The report is tabled for adoption. I thank you, hon Deputy Speaker. [Applause.]
Deputy Speaker, I move that the report be referred to the Joint Rules Committee and the National Assembly Rules Committee for consideration.
Declarations of vote:
Deputy Speaker, I must begin by recognising the former Minister of Defence, whom I must say seems to be doing extremely well, despite her new diet of chicken and beef on SA Airways. I can only imagine that the Minister is missing her favourite mode of transport, which is the Gulfstream executive jet operated by the SA Airways.
Deputy Speaker, I rise on a point of order. I would like some advice from you. I'd like a parliamentary word that says "rubbish". Could you please translate it into parliamentary language? Utter rubbish. I await your advice on that. Thank you.
Madam Deputy Speaker, I can suggest the word. It is "balderdash". [Laughter.]
I suggest "hogwash". [Laughter.]
Deputy Speaker, I have the word for the Minister and that is the truth. The Minister will be explaining why it is that she took 203 flights in a Gulfstream executive jet to this Parliament at some point.
Let me move on, Deputy Chair. We must face the fact that the Joint Standing Committee on Defence is virtually dysfunctional. That dysfunction is illustrated by the Joint Standing Committee on Defence's strategic planning workshop in Arniston on 19 May 2012. We did not participate in that strategic planning workshop because we did not believe that it was necessary to meet for that purpose at a luxury coastal hotel 200 km from Parliament. In the end ... [Interjections.]
Deputy Speaker, I rise on a point of order.
I don't think is parliamentary to disturb a member when he is dancing. [Laughter.]
In the end, the strategic planning workshop was little more than a state-sponsored weekend away. Now, we know that ANC members of the Defence committees work very hard to prevent the effective scrutiny and oversight of the Defence Force. We hope that the next time they feel the need to get away and catch the sea breeze at a luxury coastal hotel they will do so at their own expense.
I wish also to place on record that the report tabled on 18 October 2012 is not the report adopted by the Joint Standing Committee on Defence. The recommendation, which includes revising the rules governing closed meetings, was not part of the draft report adopted by the Joint Standing Committee on Defence. I raised the matter with the chairperson, but, of course, I received no response.
In conclusion, Madam Deputy Speaker, if the presiding officers are looking to award a prize for the most dysfunctional parliamentary committee, they need to look no further than the Joint Standing Committee on Defence, which is monumentally dysfunctional. Thank you. [Applause.]
Madam Deputy Speaker, Ministers and the House, it comes as no surprise to the ANC that the DA makes a declaration on such an important workshop in this House today. Firstly, the workshop was not for the joint standing committee; it was for the portfolio committee jointly with the joint standing committee. At the centre of this declaration is an individual who seeks, through ... [Interjections.]
Order hon members, please!
... his conduct and behaviour, to degrade the reputation and credibility of the Portfolio Committee on Defence and Military Veterans because his wishes and desires are not accommodated. One of the choices of venue for the workshop was arrived at through a democratic collective and majority decision in the committee in consultation with the joint standing committee, because there was an individual who was unhappy with that decision and wanted his own choice, and we were subjected to threats of boycott. And that is exactly what he did.
Secondly, during the proceedings of the workshop, the absence of opposition parties at the workshop was raised as a point of serious concern. Apologies tabled before the workshop were not accepted since there had been an agreement to hold the workshop. Thirdly, at the time of the consideration of the report, it was adopted by all parties without any objections. Today in this House, we are being entertained by a member of the committee who, despite agreeing to the report, now tables a declaration.
Fourthly, the presiding officers of the National Assembly will need to apply their minds about the Rules of Parliament. We cannot have a situation where a portfolio committee conducts its business with all parties present, but matters are not raised in-committee, and instead a parallel process is opened up in the media by specific opposition parties. [Interjections.] This is undermining Parliament and the Constitution of the Republic, which set up committees in the first instance.
The conduct and behaviour of the hon David Maynier of the DA, besides being childish and immature, is an affront to the committee and it brings the committee into disrepute. I thank you. [Applause.]
Question put.
Agreed to.
