Hon Chairperson, Ministers, Deputy Ministers, hon members, ladies and gentlemen, I greet you. The split of the Department of Education into two Ministries necessitated the amendment of the Further Education and Training Colleges Act of 2006.
Today we are gathered here to debate, among other things, the Further Education and Training Colleges Amendment Bill, which seeks to amend the Act in order to remove all references to provincial authority and at the same time to propose certain other related amendments.
The amendments to the principal Act were both technical and substantive. As a legislative requirement, the Portfolio Committee on Higher Education and Training invited participation through written submissions. We received responses mainly from the trade unions, universities, Higher Education South Africa, Hesa, FET councils, provincial departments of education, especially the FET directorates, and also student unions. They played a very important role in the discussions.
Public hearings were held for two weeks. Interested parties came and shared their concerns with the committee regarding some sections and expressed appreciation for and support of other sections of the Bill.
We noted the robustness and the passion of the discussions during the public hearings. It really showed that everyone was concerned about the impact the Bill will have on the stability of the FET colleges, given the fact that FET colleges have undergone a series of changes in the past, some of which were not well received and had a negative impact on the stability of the sector. We believe, however, that this Bill will bring much-awaited stability.
There were clauses that were of concern, such as clauses 11 to 13 and clause 34, which deal mainly with the appointment of staff employed by the state in terms of the Public Service Act; the appointment of staff by the college as a dual system to staff appointment by the state; and the bargaining councils, to deal with the conditions of service of the employees.
All stakeholders supported the proposed amendments but raised concerns and suggestions. Here are a few of those concerns. The first was the capacity of FET college councils to serve as employers. It was noted that they lacked capacity and it was proposed that intervention would be required to ensure that this did not jeopardise the staff in any way during the transitional period. The second was that the dual system of staff appointment might result in disparity in conditions of service, because of employees being appointed under different categories.
Lastly, it was not clear how the Minister of Higher Education and Training would have jurisdiction over staff appointed in terms of the Public Service Act without the consent of the Minister for the Public Service and Administration.
It was then proposed that the Public Service Act would need to be amended so that it allowed the Minister of Higher Education and Training to determine conditions of service of staff appointed under the Minister of Higher Education and Training. However, we did get a guarantee from the state law advisers that there would not be any disparities in terms of the conditions of service of either category.
Though we were pressed for time to complete the Bill, all the necessary processes were followed. We did justice to the Bill and all political parties represented in the committee debated the Bill in the spirit of team work and of bringing much-needed stability to the sector.
I would also like to take this opportunity to thank all the members of the Portfolio Committee on Higher Education and Training for investing their time and bringing the necessary knowledge of the sector into the discussions. Your fearless participation made this document what it is today. It is a document that we will be proud of throughout our lives.
I would like to thank the state law advisers and the parliamentary legal advisers for working overtime to make sure that we complete this process in time. In particular, we would like to thank the University of Cape Town. We appreciate their making themselves available to help with the reformulation of the definition of the concept "conflict of interest" when requested by the committee to do so.
I now present the motion of desirability, which the entire committee agreed upon: It is the opinion of the committee that legislation is desirable to amend the Further Education and Training Colleges Act of 2006, so that it removes all references to provincial authority; assigns functions previously assigned to the members of the executive council to the Minister; ensures all references to "head of department" are replaced with "director-general"; regulates the conduct of the members of the council and staff of a public FET college engaging in business with the relevant public college; provides afresh for the appointment of staff and provides for the transitional arrangements; and lastly, provides for the matters connected therewith.
Lastly, I take this opportunity to thank everybody who participated in this process to make sure that the Bill is a success. As the ANC, we support the Bill and urge all the parties to support it as well.