Chairperson, Minister and the different heads of the Defence Force and hon members, as the portfolio committee we still want to thank the Minister for the leadership she is providing within the Defence Force overall. We also would like to illustrate and explain that a perception is being created or a motive that we seem not to understand as the portfolio committee. The first thing that we really want to put into perspective is our interaction with the Ministry. If we don't do that, the perception that the Minister seems not to come to Parliament will continue to grow. We were totally taken aback on the day when the statement that she wants to shun Parliament became public.
On the day the Minister made a statement about her engagement with the Standing Committee on Public Accounts, Scopa, she was within the parliamentary precincts. She made that statement while next to me in a portfolio committee of Parliament. Now it seems as if there is a misconstruing of how Parliament is constituted. We think it is very important for us because, as we deal with issues of accountability, we should be able to explain this type of relationship.
The portfolio committee calls, monitors and plays an oversight role, and I must say, at this particular moment, that last year we had about 20 meetings with the Minister. This year, in the fourth term of Parliament, we already have nine engagements with her. So the Minister does remain accountable to Parliament through the portfolio committee. There is no way that that relationship should be overlooked.
How the Minister relates to Scopa is a different matter. We have been able to go to that particular ... [Interjections.] No, no. Ellis, I will give you a lecture about that. It's my job. I know that. [Interjections.] What I'm saying is that ... No, no, I know that all portfolio committees, as instructed by the Constitution, are supposed to relate in that particular manner. But, at the end of the day, the responsibility of that committee is to deal with financial matters. The portfolio committee has an overall duty of looking over the Ministry. So there is no way that she could have abstained from that responsibility.
In essence, when we looked into the correspondence, to what is exactly going on there ...