Hon members, Deputy Ministers and Ministers present, I am honoured on behalf of the Portfolio Committee on Public Service and Administration to present their report on the oversight visits to Gauteng and Limpopo respectively. This oversight trip took place from 24 to 26 July in Gauteng and 31 July to 02 August in Limpopo.
The committee visited Gauteng and conducted oversight of the following institutions: the Government Pension Administration Agency, GPAA; Government Employee Medical Aid Scheme, Gems; and the Public Service Sector Education and Training Authority, Pseta. That was the first leg of the visit in Gauteng.
On 31 July to 2 August the portfolio committee visited Limpopo. They went to Bosele School for the Blind and Deaf, which is situated in Sekhukhune; the University of Limpopo, formerly known as the University of the North, and they met with the executive committee of Limpopo in order to interrogate the implementation and aspect of section 100 of the Constitution. They also proceeded to the stakeholders' forum that was arranged to take place at the Ranch at the time. Due to hectic engagement relating to section 100 of the Constitution, they could not attend the stakeholders' forum. Therefore, that visit is still going to take place.
We noted, specifically as a committee, that there is a need for broader discussion with the public sector employee unions to plan around the Government Pension Administration Agency in order to assist the agency to better disburse the funds of the workers after they had left the public sector. What we noticed was that the money did not get disbursed quickly. We therefore thought that there was a need for a better strategy to ensure that those who leave the public sector get their money on time.
We need to engage the departments of government again on the aspect of human resource directorates or units as they do not give the Government Pension Administration Agency sufficient information and they do not respond on time. In other order words, we do not have strong human resources that respond quickly once a person leaves the system. Therefore, it takes time for former employees to get the money due to them. The SA Revenue Service, Sars, must also be engaged along those lines. The Post Offices will be utilised to disburse the money much more quickly.
On 31 July to 2 August, while we were conducting oversight in Limpopo, we discovered the following: Bosele School for the Blind and Deaf had been declared a resource centre, but was not sufficiently resourced to meet the needs of a resource centre. It took 18 months to produce Braille books for the learners and we found that to be unacceptable. We are therefore engaging with the Department of Women, Children and People with Disabilities to look into those aspects and there are follow-up meetings that we are conducting as the portfolio committee in Parliament to deal with that.
At the University of Limpopo, which we visited as well, we realised that there was a need to engage with the institutions of higher education in order to collaborate on other areas. We need a strategy on how to work with the institutions of higher learning.
We met with the executive committee of Limpopo, which co-operated very well with the committee. We engaged and assessed the aspects of how section 100 of the Constitution, as a national intervention, worked. We realised that some of the issues ... [Time expired.]
There was no debate.
Deputy Speaker, I move:
That the Report be adopted.
Motion agreed to.
Report accordingly adopted.