Source document: https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/1698830658803.pdf (South Africa)
Wednesday, 12 October 2022] No 158—2022] FOURTH SESSION, SIXTH PARLIAMENT PARLIAMENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA _____________________ ANNOUNCEMENTS, TABLINGS AND COMMITTEE REPORTS _____________________ WEDNESDAY, 12 OCTOBER 2022 _____________________ TABLE OF CONTENTS TABLINGS National Assembly and National Council of Provinces 1.

Speaker and Chairperson – PGIR Reports ....................................................................... 2 2.
Minister of Human Settlements ...................................................................................... 81 COMMITTEE REPORTS National Assembly 1.

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Sport, Arts and Culture ................................................................................................. ..82 Home Affairs ................................................................................................................ ..84 National Council of Provinces 1.

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Land Reform, Environment, Mineral Resources and Energy ...................................... ..87 Land Reform, Environment, Mineral Resources and Energy ...................................... ..88 Appropriations .............................................................................................................. 113 1 4.

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Appropriations .............................................................................................................. 123 Appropriations .............................................................................................................. 133 Appropriations .............................................................................................................. 142 TABLINGS National Assembly and National Council of Provinces 1.
The Speaker and the Chairperson (1) Report of the SADC-PF Standing Committee on Gender Equality, Women Advancement and Youth Development on Enhancing Parliaments’ Response in the prevention and elimination of violence against women and girls during pandemics to the 50th Plenary Assembly, 10 December 2021.
2 REPORT OF THE SADC PF STANDING COMMITTEE ON GENDER EQUALITY, WOMEN ADVANCEMENT AND YOUTH DEVELOPMENT ON ENHANCING PARLIAMENTS’ RESPONSE IN THE PREVENTION AND ELIMINATION OF VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN AND GIRLS DURING PANDEMICS TO THE 50TH PLENARY ASSEMBLY Mr President, I beg to move that this Plenary Assembly do adopt the Report of the SADC PF Standing Committee on Gender Equality, Women Advancement and Youth Development to the 50th Plenary Assembly Session of the SADC Parliamentary Forum, laid on the table on 10th December, 2021. i 3 TABLE OF CONTENTS No.
Item 1.0 Composition of the Committee 2.0 Terms of Reference 3.0 Number of Meetings Held and Meeting Dates 4.0 Background 5.0 Presentation on Enhancing Parliaments’ Response in the Prevention and Elimination of Violence against Women and Girls during Pandemics 6.0 Observations and Recommendations 7.0 Conclusion 8.0 Appendix I – List of Officials Appendix II – Observers Page 1 1 1 1 2 5 6 8 9 Appendix III – List of Resource Persons 10 ii 4 1.0 COMPOSITION OF THE COMMITTEE The Committee consisted of the following Members: 1.
Hon.

Peete Ramoqai, MP, Lesotho (Chairperson) 2.

Hon.

Marie Jeanne d’Arc MASY GOULAMALY, MP, Madagascar (Vice Chairperson) 3.

Hon.

Maria do Carmo do Nascimento, MP, Angola 4.

Hon.

Marie Joanne Sabrina Tour, MP, Mauritius 5.

Hon.

Monica Chang’anamuno, MP, Malawi 6.

Hon.

Maria Marta Fernando, MP, Mozambique 7.

Hon.

Paula Kooper, MP, Namibia 8.

Hon.

Nkhensani Kate Bilankulu, MP, South Africa 9.

Sen. Busisiwe Dlamini, MP, Eswatini 10.

Hon.

Goodlucky Kwaramba, MP, Zimbabwe 11.

Hon.


Shally Joseph Raymond, MP, Tanzania 12.

Hon.

Anne-Marie Mbilambangu, MP, DRC 13.

Hon.

Kelly Samynadin, MP, Seychelles 14.

Hon.

Talita Monnakgotla, MP, Botswana 15.

Zambia (TBA) 2.0 TERMS OF REFERENCE The Standing Committee on Gender Equality, Women Advancement and Youth Development is guided by its mandate in terms of Rule 42(a) of the SADC PF Rules of Procedure.
3.0 NUMBER OF MEETINGS HELD AND MEETING DATES The Standing Committee on Gender Equality, Women Advancement and Youth Development held one meeting on Thursday, 14th October, 2021 to consider the topic “Enhancing Parliaments’ Response in the Prevention and Elimination of Violence against Women and Girls during Pandemics.” 4.0 BACKGROUND Since the outbreak of Covid 19 pandemic, emerging reports had shown that several types of violence against women and girls had intensified.
Although Covid 19 was claiming the lives of many, the pandemic’s disproportionate impact on women and girls’ socio-economic welfare threatened to reverse the hard-won gains in advancing gender equality and women's empowerment.

Gender-based violence was known to be widespread in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and presented a major obstacle to attaining gender equality and equity.
The region had reports of abuse such as intimate partner violence, sexual harassment, child marriage, female genital mutilation (FGM), domestic and sexual abuse of women and girls that had been exacerbated by lockdowns.

Page 1 of 10 5 As an illustration, the South African Police Service (SAPS) reported receiving 2,300 calls for help related to gender-based violence at the beginning of 2020.

By mid-June 2020, twenty-one women and children had been killed by intimate partners in that country.
One emblematic case was the brutal murder of twenty-eight-year-old Tshegofatso Pule, who went missing on 4 June, 2020 and was found four days later, stabbed and hanging from a tree in Johannesburg while eight months pregnant.

According to WHO, the dearth of well-documented gender data remained a key challenge towards the roll out of comprehensive and systematic gender-based violence and Covid 19 response and recovery efforts in SADC Member States.
The twelve month experience of intimate partner violence, however, estimated an increase of 13 percent across the world and 20 percent across sub-Saharan Africa.

In addition, with online learning, cases of online abuse, harassment and exploitation of children had been on the increase.
The theme for the meeting of the Standing Committee on Gender Equality, Women Advancement and Youth Development was selected in a quest to bring to light the rise of gender-based violence, as an aspect of the Covid 19 pandemic and the resultant lock downs in the SADC region.
The meeting sought to document the sharp increases in gender-based violence by outlining the consequences, emerging priorities, promising practices and highlight their potential to effectively support and protect women and girls from gender based violence as a standard part of response to the Covid 19 pandemic in the region.
The meeting also sought to outline some practical evidence-based recommendations to SADC Member States and other stakeholders to ensure that actions against gender-based violence were mainstreamed in their Covid 19 response and recovery activities.
5.0 SUMMARY OF PRESENTATIONS a) Highlights on Recent Trends and Emerging Forms of Gender-Based Violence in the SADC Region Based on the presentations made before it, the Standing Committee on Gender Equality, Women Advancement and Youth Development noted the following: 1.

Despite enacted laws and policies and various programmes in the SADC region, gender-based violence remained a significant problem with new forms continuing to emerge.
According to the World Health Organisation, intimate partner violence was estimated to have increased by 13 percent across the world and 20 percent across sub-Saharan Africa.

Actual experiences of violence were higher than the data indicated as many women did not report the violence due to various barriers that existed.

2.
2.

Although the gender machineries existed in the region, they were under- resourced, and not all countries had National Action Plans (NAPs) on Page 2 of 10 6 violence against women and girls.

In addition, gender-responsive budgeting was not applied consistently, which resulted in limited tracking of allocations and execution of the budgets.

Other limitations included cross- institutional coordination of efforts and the monitoring and enforcement of commitments.

3.
3.

There was a strong civil society trend working towards ending violence against women and girls.

The region had networks and movements such as the Council of Traditional Leaders of Africa (COTLA), the African Women’s Development and Communications Network (FEMNET), the GBV Prevention Network, HeforShe Campaign Movement, International Gender Champions, and Men Engage.

However, the space for civil society to operate varied, and there was a lot more that needed to be done in the partnership.

4.
4.

Not all SADC Member States had services accessible in justice and policing, health, social services, shelters, psychosocial counselling and multi- sectoral coordination and governance.

In addition, there were inconsistent quality survivor-centered services.

It was noted that age, abilities or disabilities, socio-economic status, conflict and disasters and gender identity and sexual orientation further contributed to marginalisation.

5.
5.

The Covid 19 pandemic had exacerbated intimate partner violence and other forms of violence, such as child marriage, sexual abuse and exploitation, sexual harassment in public spaces, non-partner sexual violence and technology-facilitated violence which had resulted in adolescent pregnancy, delayed or arrested education, unpaid care work, loss of paid employment, mental health issues and costs to individual women and girls, and families and communities.

6.
A variety of factors such as under-funding of essential services for women and girls affected by violence; restrictions in mobility and lockdowns; school closures; loss of income and poor support; limited and changed available referral services for survivors; perceptions and bias from service providers that deferred reporting; lack of information on available services; heavy reliance on technology; lack of investments and reach of social protection measures pre-Covid; pre-existing gender inequitable norms; and limited women’s leadership and representation in Covid decision-making bodies had contributed to the increased incidences of gender-based violence during the Covid 19 pandemic.
b) Presentation on Laws and Policies that Address Gender-Based Violence in Zambia – Need for Comprehensive Legal and Policy Framework The following lessons were drawn from the presentations: 1.
Zambia had ratified several international conventions and declarations such as Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Page 3 of 10 7 against Women (CEDAW), the Convention on the Rights of Child (CRC), and the Convention of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) and its optional protocol, the Maputo Protocol, and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR).

2.

The National Gender Policy, 2014, provided for a situation analysis on gender-based violence.
The policy had identified low reporting levels, high rates of withdrawal of cases and preference to settle matters out of court in order to preserve family reputation and respect.

In addition, since most perpetrators were breadwinners, the victims preferred to withdraw cases that risked economic security.

3.

The Anti Gender-Based Violence Act, No.
1 of 2011, defined gender-based violence as any physical, mental, social or economic abuse against a person because of that person’s gender, and included violence that resulted in, or was likely to result in physical, sexual or psychological harm or suffering to the person, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or private life; and actual or threatened physical, mental, social or economic abuse that occurred in a domestic relationship.

4.
4.

While the legal and policy framework governing issues of gender-based violence in Zambia were adequate, implementation remained poor, which rendered the set policies and laws ineffective.

As an illustration, the penal Code Act was in 2005 amended to stiffen the penalties for sexual offences so as to deter would-be offenders, while the Gender-Based Violence Act, No.

1 of 2011 did not provide specific sanctions to go with the different forms of violence defined in the Act.

5.
5.

There was a lack of harmonisation of gender-based violence-related laws.

For instance, the Anti Gender-Based Violence Act, the Penal Code Act and the Gender Equity and Equality Act needed to be fully operationalised for efficacy.

In addition, corroboration, as a requirement of law, posed a challenge for young children.
c) Highlights on the Response to Gender-Based Violence in the SADC Region The meeting took note of the SADC Strategy and Framework of Action for Addressing Gender-based Violence, 2018-2030, which was anchored on five main objectives, including, prevention and early identification of gender- based violence by addressing associated social, cultural and religious issues; delivery of effective and accessible protection, care and support services to gender-based violence victims; capacity development for efficient and effective response to gender-based violence; information and knowledge management, including sharing of best practices and innovations and effective coordination, networking and partnership building.
Page 4 of 10 8 Other lessons drawn from the presentation included the following: 1.

With half of the world’s population on lockdown during the pandemic, gender-based violence was on the increase due to the strain on mental health, security and income and cramped living conditions.

In some countries, though domestic violence reports had almost tripled, there were very few shelters which had very limited capacity.

Lockdowns also impeded access to HIV and Sexual and Reproductive Health (SRH) services.
Women and girls with disabilities also faced disruptions to support networks that were essential for their survival.

2.

A critical factor in the prevention of gender-based violence and the effective response to this social ill was the collection, compilation, analysis and use of data and information to inform policies, programmes and service provision.

3.
Challenges that hampered effective response to gender-based violence included inadequate knowledge of gender-based violence at all levels; limited knowledge of available legislation on gender-based violence; inadequate interpretation and application of the law; weak coordination mechanisms among gender-based violence service providers and stakeholders; high reliance of government on development partners for both human and financial support, which compromised ownership and sustainability of gender-based violence programmes; lack of alignment of gender-based violence prevention and response activities to enacted laws, adopted policies and action plans; low levels of reporting on gender-based violence cases; weak and insufficiently defined gender-based violence referral systems across service providers; weak monitoring and evaluation of gender-based violence programmes and limited research to inform policies and programmes; and lack of reliable, timely and accessible data on gender-based violence, including administrative data.
6.0 RECOMMENDATIONS Now, therefore, the Standing Committee on Gender Equality, Women Advancement and Youth Development resolves to: URGE Member States to integrate violence prevention and support into all Covid 19 emergency response planning, and allocate sufficient supplies and resources for this purpose.

Further URGE Member Parliaments provide policy advice to SADC States on integrating gender-based violence in national and sub-national Covid 19 response plans and budgets.
Page 5 of 10 9 IMPLORE all Member States to create an enabling policy and legal framework, resource environments, and National Action Plans for the elimination of violence against women and girls.

URGE Member States to adapt and scale up of evidence-driven prevention programming such as comprehensive, accessible, and quality services for survivors of gender-based violence.
Further URGE the adaptation and scaling- up of services such as shelters, safe spaces, and essential housing along with psycho-social support and advice for individuals experiencing or at risk of gender-based violence.

In so doing, Member States should also train all service providers with regard to the treatment of victims and survivors to ensure that behaviours and attitudes that were victim-blaming and insensitive were done away with.
ENCOURAGE Member States to create an enabling and empowering environment for autonomous girl-led and women’s rights organisations to exercise their expertise in addressing gender-based violence, and to prioritise women’s involvement in the parliamentary response to Covid 19.
APPEAL to SADC governments to adopt a holistic approach to ending gender- based violence, to coordinate and unite entities to prevent and eradicate violence, including through implementing well-resourced national strategies that outlined roles and responsibilities, and a risk-based approach that could be applied before, during and after Covid 19.

ENTREAT Member States to strengthen information and knowledge platforms for sharing of lessons and good practices.
Further ENTREAT Member States to reinforce documentation and reporting on gender-based violence to understand the status in order to inform prevention and response initiatives, including reporting on gender-based violence to the SADC Council and to Heads of State summit.
URGE Member States to incorporate anti-violence messages and available resources and social, psychological, health and legal services available for survivors into mass media and social media campaigns and ensure that women’s centres, shelters, domestic violence helplines, police protection, legal aid and other critical services were identified as essential services, and identify safe spaces where victims could report abuse without alerting perpetrators.
APPLAUD Member States whose traditional leaders had been influential in sensitising communities on negative traditions and cultural norms that exacerbated gender-based violence and that had developed by-laws to ban harmful traditional practices such as child marriage and spouse inheritance.

7.0 CONCLUSION The Committee took note that Covid 19 had compounded the already existing gender inequalities, and increased risks of gender-based violence.
The protection Page 6 of 10 10 and promotion of the rights of women and girls should, therefore, be prioritised.

National strategic plans for Covid 19 preparedness and response must be grounded in strong gender analysis and must ensure meaningful participation of affected groups, including women and girls, in decision-making and implementation.
In that regard, SADC Member States should integrate violence prevention and support into all Covid 19 emergency response planning, and allocate sufficient supplies and resources for this purpose.

The Committee wishes to express its gratitude to the Secretariat for the support and guidance rendered to it.

The Committee is also indebted to the resource persons for their expert presentations on the theme under consideration.
Page 7 of 10 11 8.0 APPENDIX I – LIST OF OFFICIALS Ms Boemo Sekgoma, Secretary General Ms Clare Musonda, Director – Corporate Governance Ms Yapoka Mungandi, Director – Administration, Finance and Human Resources Mr Sheuneni Kurasha, Programme Manager – DGHR Mrs Edna Kanguya Zgambo, Committee Secretary – TIFI Ms Betty Zulu, Committee Secretary – GEWAYD Mrs Sharon Muteto Nyirongo, Committee Secretary – FANR Mr Dennis Gondwe, Committee Secretary – HSDSP Ms Luziela Fernandes, Committee Secretary – RWPC Mr Ronald Windwaai, Webmaster Ms Paulina Kanguatjivi, Programmes Coordinator Mr Wilfried Kongolo, ICT Intern Ms Agnes Lilungwe, Personal Assistant to the Secretary General Mr Modise Kabeli, Media Officer APPENDIX II – OBSERVERS Ms Yande Kalengo, Action Aid, Zambia Ms Chama Nshindano Mwandalesa, Oxfam, Zambia Mr Hachangu Hachangu, MEL Office, Zambia Ms Angela Machonesa, Plan International, Zimbabwe Ms Molline Marume, UN Women, South Africa Mr Adolf Mavheneke, Zimbabwe, SAfAIDS, Zimbabwe Ms Faith Shange, Groutville Youth Organisation, South Africa Ms Marie-Nella AZEMIA, Citizens Engagement Platform (CEP), Seychelles Mr Johannes Chiminya, Action Aid, Mozambique Mrs Monica Kanjimana-Hayward, Non-governmental Gender Organisations Coordinating Council, Zambia Mr Banana Hatahata, Lesotho National Broadcasting Service (LNBS), Lesotho Appendix III – Resource Persons 1.
Ms Hazel Gooding, Deputy Representative for UN Women Multi-country, South Africa; 2.

Ms Keketso Maema, UN Women, South Africa 3.

Ms Catherine Jere, Senior Legal Officer, National Legal Aid Clinic for Women 4.

Ms Kealeboga Kelly Dambuza, Programme Officer, Gender Unit – SADC Secretariat Page 8 of 10 12 (2) Report of the virtual SADC Parliamentary Forum Stakeholder Consultative Session with Committee Chairpersons on the development of the SADC Model Law and Public Finance Management, 17 February 2022.
13 REPORT OF THE VIRTUAL SADC PARLIAMENTARY FORUM (SADC PF) STAKEHOLDER CONSULTATIVE SESSION WITH COMMITTEE CHAIRPERSONS ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE SADC MODEL LAW AND PUBLIC FINANCE MANAGEMENT 17 February 2022 1 14 1.
INTRODUCTION Purpose of the meeting: For the SADC PF to consult with national parliaments’ Chairpersons of relevant Standing Committees of Parliament (including Public Accounts, Finance, Budget, anti- corruption and good governance Committees) to finalise the draft SADC Model Law on Public Financial Management (PFM).

Delegation Members: Chairpersons nominated by the South African Parliament were unable to attend due to conflicting parliamentary business.
Delegation Secretariat: • Dr N. Leibrandt-Loxton: International Relations and Protocol Division (IRPD) • Ms N. Skitasi-Nkayi: IRPD • Ms A. Dlomo: IRPD 2.
MEETING OUTCOMES 2.1 Welcome Address: Ms Boemo Sekgoma, Secretary-General Ms Sekgoma welcomed all delegates and observed the following: • The SADC Model Law on PFM will be the first of its kind globally; and • That Chairpersons of national finance-related parliamentary committees are being consulted due to the important role they can play in the model law’s domestication and when their national parliaments will report to the Forum on their parliaments’ processing of the model law.
Ms Sekgoma further observed that this consultation is part of a larger process of engagement with various stakeholders, including from national parliaments.

She encouraged delegates to access the documents on the draft Model Law at https://pfm.sadcpf.org/, and submit any suggested amendments in writing to pfm@sadcpf.org.

2.2 Keynote Address: Hon.

Brian Dube, MP, Deputy Secretary-General, SADC Organisation of Public Accounts Committees (SADCOPAC) and PAC Chairperson, Zimbabwe Hon.
Dube shared a message of support to the meeting on behalf of SADCOPAC.

He observed that SADCOPAC aims to promote good governance through sharing knowledge and experiences to enhance parliamentary oversight.

It can do so among the public accounts committees of 13 SADC parliaments that are members of the organisation.

Hon.
Hon.

Dube further submitted that a Memorandum of Understanding will be concluded between the SADC PF and SADCOPAC to strengthen cooperation, conduct joint research, facilitate capacity enhancement, hold annual joint working and review sessions, and conduct bilateral consultations.

He expressed SADCOPAC’s full support of the model law.
2 15 2.3 Presentation of SADC Model Law on PFM by Mr Daniel Greenberg, Legal Drafter Mr Greenberg’s presentation focused on outlining the process of developing the current draft and the model law’s core principles.
He highlighted the following considerations that had to be taken into account in developing the initial draft: • The need to balance conflicting simplicity and certainty: This entails the need to be certain that everyone understands what the law requires; for instance, it is easy to agree that corruption is bad, but difficult to agree on a definition and how to address it • The need to balance flexibility with clarity: The law needs to be easy to domesticate, allowing for flexibility and some domestic modifications.
Bearing these in mind, Mr Greenberg encouraged Members to review the draft and make written submissions on it.
Some of the initial comments or questions that emerged from the meeting included the following: • The model law needs to expand on the appearance of witnesses before committees, although such provisions would need to consider national laws of privilege and self-incrimination when dealing with non-public officials; • More discussion is needed on public accounts committees not being dominated by the ruling party and how this should work in practice; • Discussion in the appointment of the Auditor-General also requires further discussion; • The powers of ministers when borrowing need to be looked at; and • Provisions for special funds and/or taxes also need to be included, notably in terms of how these can be monitored by parliaments.
3.

RECOMMENDED ISSUES FOR NOTING AND/OR ACTION BY PARLIAMENT Chairpersons of the South African Parliament who were unable to join the meeting are encouraged to review the model law and submit any inputs in writing to the email address pfm@sadcpf.org.

ENDS 3 16 (3) Delegation Report on the 82nd Executive Committee Meeting of the CPA Africa Region, 03 – 09 March 2022, Ghana.

17 DELEGATION REPORT ON THE 82nd EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MEETING OF CPA AFRICA REGION HELD IN GHANA, ACCRA ON 05-09 MARCH 2022.
1 18 TABLE OF CONTENT ITEM /TOPIC PAGE NUMBER Introduction & Background Parliamentary Participation in Regional and International Relations 3 4 Parliamentary Delegation to 82nd Exco Meeting CPA Africa Region 4-5 Official opening ceremony of 82nd Exco Meeting of CPA Africa Region 5-9 Vote of thanks on official ceremony: CPA Treasurer: Hon N Mekgwe 9-10 Proceedings of 82nd Exco Meeting of CPA Africa Region 10-18 Decision on 52nd Africa Region Conference Observations of Delegation Recommendations Closing Remarks of 82nd Exco Meeting 18 18-19 20 21 2 19 Introduction and background This report seeks to provide an account on proceedings of the 82nd Executive Committee Meeting of the CPA Africa Region, which took place in Ghana, Accra from 05-09 March 2022.
The purpose of the meeting among others was to take stock and reflect on the extent of the implementation of the resolutions of the 51st CPA Africa Region Conference held in Nigeria, Abuja in November 2021.

Furthermore, the objective of the meeting was to afford Exco an opportunity to consider and adopt the following reports: • Minutes of 81st Exco Meeting of CPA Africa Region held in Abuja, Nigeria in November 2021.
• Report of CWP Steering Committee • Report of the Regional Representatives • Report of Programme Planning and Finance Sub Committee Consequently, the meeting also enabled Exco an opportunity to assess the business and the operations of the CPA Africa Region in so far as the annual calendar of activities is concerned and thereafter chart a way forward.
The most central part was the matter on the state of readiness of the host country (Sierra Leone) to organise the 52nd CPA Africa Region Conference, scheduled in June 2022.

Over and above, this report will shed light towards the end, on the decisions of Exco regarding the 52nd CPA Africa Region Conference, coupled will theme and sub-themes and on other important matters.
However, it is worth noting and mentioning that the timing of the 82nd Exco Meeting was most appropriate and significant as it coincided with many milestone and historical events such as the “65th Independence day of Ghana, International Women’s day and the Celebration of the Commonwealth day, of which the latter event is held every year on the second Monday of March.

Ghana Independence Day is also known as Ghana National Day and is celebrated every year on March 6.
The celebrations commemorate Ghana’s independence from the United Kingdom in 1957.

The International Women’s Day (IWD) is celebrated annually on 08 March and it has been celebrated for over a century since 1911.

This year, it was celebrated under the theme: “Gender Equality today for a sustainable tomorrow”.

The theme underscores the reality that without gender equality today, a sustainable and an equal future, remains a pipe dream.
3 20 Parliament’s participation in Regional and International Bodies The sixth Parliament Strategic Plan has set out Regional and International Relations as one of its five Strategic Oversight Plans for the term.

Theme five of the oversight plans enjoins Parliament to play an important role in influencing and overseeing international and regional decision-making.
In giving effect to regional and international participation, Parliament of the Republic of South Africa is affiliated and participates in the political activities of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association at both Africa Region and International level.

This participation fulfils one of Parliament strategic objective premised on deepening and enhancing parliamentary international engagement and cooperation.
The 82nd Executive Committee Meeting of the CPA Africa Region was convened in accordance with Article 28 (4&5) of the CPA Africa Region Constitution which invites all the branches to participate in the proceedings of the afore-said meeting.

This meeting afforded Branch representatives and the leadership of the CPA Africa Region to deliberate on issues relating to the Regional Representative Committee, Commonwealth Women Parliamentarians and the Programming Planning and Finance Sub-Committee.
Parliamentary delegation In terms of CPA Africa Region Constitution, read with the current rotational system of CPA Africa Region on Regional Representatives, Parliament of the Republic of South Africa is allocated two sits in CPA Exco Meetings.

In giving effect to these statutory obligations, the delegation of Parliament to the 82nd Exco meeting of CPA Africa Region comprised of the following members: NO NAME OF MEMBER DESIGNATION IN PARLIAMENT DESIGNATION IN CPA 1 Hon.
L.S Tsenoli Deputy Speaker of the National Regional Representative of Assembly Southern Region 2.

Hon.

W Ngwenya House Chairperson International Acting National Branch Relations of the National Council of Representative of Parliament Provinces 4 21 3 Mr. T Molusi Researcher & Executive Assistant to Accompanying Official & House Chairperson.

Delegation Secretary 4.

Ms. P Masiza Personal Assistant to Deputy Accompanying Official & Speaker of the National Assembly Delegation Protocol Officer.
The Parliament of South Africa attended the 82nd EXCO in three categories namely, • Regional Representative Committee Member • Programming Planning and Finance Member and • Branch Representative Member • CWP Steering Committee South Africa will be representing Southern Africa Sub-Region in the Regional Representative Committee and Programming and Finance for the tenure of three years as in line with the roaster of the Association.
Some of the branches were unable to attend the 82ND EXCO due to the volatility of the COVID 19 situation in their respective parts of their country and the regulations enforced to curb the current impasse Opening Ceremony-Tuesday, 08th March 2022 As a long-standing conventional practice of CPA Africa Region, the 82nd Exco Meeting was preceded by the singing of the National Anthem of the host country (Ghana), CPA Women’s Anthem and followed by remarks, and keynote address from among others, the Head of State or his Deputy, Speaker and other Presiding Officers of Parliament of the Ghana.
Due to competing commitments, the President of the Republic of Ghana Hon.

Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo could not make it to the opening ceremony of the 82nd Exco as was he was reported to be outside the country attending unavoidable official business.

The keynote address was therefore delivered by Vice President of the Republic of Ghana His Excellency Alhaji Dr Mahamudu Bawula.

5 22 Keynote address by Vice President of the Republic of Ghana His Excellency Alhaji Dr Mahamudu Bawula.
In his address, which he delivered on behalf of the President of the Republic of Ghana his Excellency Nana Addo, the Vice President had emphatically expressed a warm and heartily welcome to all Exco Members to Ghana.
Over and above he alluded that he is aware that Exco Meeting is held twice every year to plan the activities and to discuss issues of concern to members of the CPA Africa Region, which will enable the Africa Region and to subsequently present positions on these issues at the main annual conference which is planned to take place at Sierra Leone in June 2022.

As a noble gesture of expressing solidarity, the Vice President of the Republic of Ghana acknowledged the presence of the Speaker of Sierra Leone Rt.
Hon.

Dr. Abas Bundu for assuming the Presidency of the Association, by virtue of Sierra Leonne being the host country for the 52nd conference of CPA Africa Region to be held in June 2022.

Having perused the programme of 82nd Exco meeting, the Vice President contented that it ties perfectly with the mission statement of CPA, Africa Region.
In this regard, he urged Exco meeting to continue championing the implementation of one of the key resolution on constitutional matters regarding changing the status of CPA as a Charity Organisation.

The address reflected on different contemporary global and continental issues facing Parliaments and Legislatures.
Those issues covered by the address included but not limited to the following pivotal issues: • Under –representation of women and the vulnerable The Vice President alluded that the practices that affect women, children and the marginalised in society should longer be considered as economic or social issues but as issues that have direct correlations with democratic governance.

It is a democratic imperative that men support the representation of women and the marginalised in governance.
Expressed a noteworthy and heart-warming observation regarding the fact that the trend of under-representation of women in Legislatures is changing across the globe and as a results that, called for a perpetual and sustainable support for women to ensure their increased representation and participation in all spheres of government and the Parliament.
Towards the tail end of the address on the matter of women, the Vice President called for countries including Ghana where women and other marginalised 6 23 people are under-represented, to interrogate and amend their Constitutions to find the rightful solutions to increase women representation in Parliament.
• Continental Free Trade On African Continental Free Trade Area (ACFTA), the Vice President commended the opportunity offered by the ACFTA as unique for the African Continent to begin to adopt home grown policies to vigorously promote trade among the continent.

Further alluded that the this agenda, if well pursued, would not only boost Africa’s trading position in the global market but would also strengthen Africa’s common voice and policy space in global trade negotiation.
He noted that this a key factor which appears to be missing in Africa’s engagement in the world trade and economic order.

• Future outlook With respect to the future outlook, he contented with great deal of optimism that the future of the African Continent is definitely not a gloomy one.

In supporting his observation, he indicated that there is evidence that, a robust democratic culture is growing in many parts of the continent.
Cited peaceful elections and transfer of power in Ghana, Liberia and Gambia as good examples of a matured and robust democratic culture.
On behalf of the President, the Vice President of the Republic of Ghana concluded his key note address by expressing his heartfelt and warm welcome to all Members of the 82nd CPA Africa Region to the beautiful city of Accra, the capital of Ghana, As he was concluding, he wished all CPA Exco Members a good stay and fruitful deliberations at the meetings and safe journey back to their respective countries.

Remarks by Hon.
Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu: Majority leader of Parliament of Ghana, CPA-West African Regional Representative, & Vice-Chair of CPA International At the beginning of his remarks the Vice Chair of CPA International reminded Members that the Executive Committee of the CPA-Africa Region is the highest organ of the CPA Africa Region, whose responsibility among others is to lead the Association on the continent of Africa in order to promote knowledge of the constitutional, legislative, 7 24 economic, social and cultural aspects of parliamentary democracy.
Further alluded that the implementing this important responsibility, the Executive Committee meets twice in a year.

The first of such meetings in this year, 2022, is being hosted by the CPA-Ghana Branch.

He expressed a firm conviction that the CPA Africa Region remains resolute in the discharge of its responsibilities, in pursuit of a true democracy on the continent.
Acknowledged and noted that significantly high on the agenda of the 82nd Exco Meeting of CPA Africa Region is the discussion on how to strengthen cooperation among the Commonwealth Member States on the Continent to address the devastating impact of COVID-19 pandemic about the continent economies and democratic institutions.
In supporting this agenda, the Vice Chair of CPA International, called for the Commonwealth Member States to view the Covid-19 crises as an opportunity to map out a different developmental trajectory that is more sustainable, and more inclusive.
Expressed a vote of confidence to the current Members of the Executive Committee and hoped that 82nd Exco Meeting shall come up with pragmatic solutions as well as outcomes that capitalise on the diversity within the Commonwealth to work together and respond to the challenges confronting the continent.

In conclusion, he wished all Members a productive and an impact based meeting whose outcome can result in enabling our continent to deepen parliamentary democracy and upholding gender equality.
Address by Hon.

Dr. Abass Chernor Bundu: Speaker of the Parliament of Sierra Leone & President, CPA-Africa Region The address of the President of CPA-Africa Region was centred around the issues of gender equality.

The President appealed for these issues to be at the centre of developing agenda for Parliaments.
In supporting these issues, the President urged Members of Parliament in Commonwealth Africa to carry out some introspection and stock-taking in order to assess what has been achieved in the task of empowering women and what still remains to be done.

As a proponent of gender equality, he alluded that he has made a similar call and appeal to the Inter-Parliamentary Union Meeting in February 2022 at the Headquarters of the 8 25 United Nations in New York.
Consequently, he indicated that in the international arena there is already a plethora of impressive international instruments.
He said they range from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948 to the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) adopted in 1979, which is more or less an embodiment of an International Bill of Rights for Women, to the decision of the Commonwealth Ministers responsible for Women’s Affairs in 1996, to the Beijing Declaration, the UN Security Council Resolution 1325, to the establishment of the UN Women and the United Nations Sustainable Development (SDGs).
Accordingly, he cited an example of the top ten countries in the world with the highest representation of women in Parliament of which three are from the Commonwealth and they are: 1.

Rwanda has 56% of women in Parliament 2.

South Africa has 44% of women in Parliament 3.

Mozambique has 39% of women in Parliament Acknowledged that these achievements provide a cause for a modicum of celebration, as they do also point conspicuously to the fact that there is still a great deal of work to be done.
The President of CPA Africa Region believed that ending discrimination against women and dramatically increasing their numbers in Parliament, in the Executive branch and in other leadership positions could unleash a more inclusive recovery for all people, particularly when experiences of women are captured in the decision-making process.
Concluded his address by calling for Parliaments to use education as a tool to develop and change the status of women and the very same education to be extended to educate men to accept women as equal partners for development.

Acknowledged that most countries, including his own country Sierra Leone, have already resolved to include education for women to be part of the apex priorities.

Votes of Thanks by Hon.


Lentheng Ntombi Mekgwe: Speaker of the Gauteng Provincial Legislature and Treasurer of CPA Africa Region The Treasurer of CPA Africa Region Hon Ntombi Mekgwe delivered a moving vote of thanks on behalf of the Office Bears, which marked the conclusion of the opening ceremony of the 82nd CPA Africa Region.
This was her maiden closing address at the 9 26 CPA Executive Meeting following her election for a period of three years, in November 2021 during 51st CPA Africa Region Conference that took place in Abuja, Nigeria.
Given a warm reception received by Members after landing safely in Ghana and consequently ushered in smoothly to accommodation facilities by CPA Secretariat working together with the Protocol Officers of Parliament of Ghana, the Treasurer expressed and conveyed deep gratitude to the Government of the Republic of Ghana.
On the same note, she acknowledged that the meeting is taking place at a time when the host country is celebrating 65th years of independence and as a result, she joined many speakers to congratulate Ghana on its endurance and victories.
As part of acknowledging the International day of women, she alluded that the CPA Exco meeting will amongst other things delve on the strides of the Commonwealth Women Parliamentarians and Women in the world to address the issues that continue to affect women, in particular social, economic, political, justice and development.
Over and above, she emphatically indicated that it is important to reiterate that the struggle for gender equality and women emancipation is not only a struggle for women - men must also stand up and toil side by side by women.

Expressed that women have a crucial role to play in the realisation of the Africa, as proclaimed by the Vision of Africa 2063.

On behalf of the Executive Committee, she thanked the CPA Ghana Branch for making Members stay a memorable one.
As she was concluding the vote of thanks, she indicated that Members are looking forward to fruitful engagements for the remaining part of the Programme.
Proceedings of the 82nd Executive Committee Meeting of CPA Africa Region Consideration and adoption of the Minutes of the 81st Exco Meeting held on 10th November 2021, at the Transcorp Hotel Abuja, Nigeria, The minutes of the 81st Exco Meeting was adopted with amendments after Hon L Tsenoli,a Regional Representative of Southern Africa, moved for the adoption and was seconded Hon R Nkhata, a Branch Representative of Malawi Parliament.
10 27 Matters arising from previous minutes • Election of Acting Vice-Chairperson of CPA International: Members were informed that through collaboration with traditional allies and leadership of the Chairperson and some members of the Executive Committee, Hon Osei Kyei- Mensah-Bonsu, MP (Ghana), was elected as acting Vice Chairperson of CPA International.
The 82nd Exco Meeting congratulated Hon Osei Kyei-Mensah- Bonsu for accepting the position and wished him well in his tenure as the Vice President of CPA International.

Hon Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu is from Ghana.

• Nomination of a Member to serve in the CPA International Working Committee on Human Rights: The meeting was informed that, after consulting the CPA Headquarters, about who could represent the Region in the Working Group, the Secretariat decided to maintain Hon.
Kwame Anyimadu-Antwi, MP (Ghana) as the Region Representative.

• CPA Annual Report and Change of Legal International Working Committee on Human Rights: The meeting was informed that, the Regional Secretary had sent a letter to the Secretary informing him of the directive of the Committee.

• Outstanding indebtedness: The meeting was informed that, schedule of Sub- Branches in arrears was prepared and letters circulated to all Sub-Branches requesting them to pay their subscription fees.
Out of Branches and Sub- Branches deemed suspended three had paid.

Further, all debt accumulated after the due dates of suspension were written accordingly.

Consideration and Adoption of Reports from Sub-Committees • Commonwealth Women Parliamentarians (CWP) Steering Committee The CWP Steering Committee convened its meeting on 06 March 2002 whose purpose was to prepare a report for consideration and adoption by the CPA Executive Committee Meeting of 08 March 2022.
Hon W Ngwenya, MP (South Africa) attended the CWP Steering Committee Meeting as an acting Sub-Regional Representative of Southern 11 28 Africa.

The Sub-Regional Representative of Southern Africa who is an MP from Namibia was absent.

During the meeting of the CPA Executive Committee, the report of the CWP Steering Committee was presented by Hon.

Baroda Kayanga, MP (Uganda) and Vice- Chairperson of CWP.
The report highlighted activities conducted by CWP Chapters from November 2021 to February, 2022, implementation status of CWP Africa Region activities for 2021 and Agenda for CWP Business Meeting.

The meeting was informed that Members of the CWP Steering Committee met once during the Annual General Meeting (AGM) held in November, 2021 in Abuja Nigeria.

Exco further noted that only four (4) CWP Chapters from South Africa, Botswana, Tanzania and Sierra Leone submitted reports of their activities.
During the consideration of the report of CWP Steering Committee, CPA Executive Committee approved the following recommendations as proposed by the CWP Steering Committee: • To encourage more women in branches to participate in politics to create new leaders.

• To create favourable conditions for young women to participate in political activities at branch level.
• To promote a gender sensitive parliament in its composition, structures and activities gender responsive while conducting parliamentary activities.

• Urged women to support women candidates in election campaign at all levels The CPA Executive Committee further approved the Calendar of activities of CWP for the year 2022.

The Calendar of activities amongst others include the following programmes: 1.

The CWP Gender Sensitisation Workshop to be held in October 2022 in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

2.
2.

CWP Sensitization visit to Branches that will hold Elections in 2022.

The following Branches were confirmed to hold elections in 2022: Kenya, Malawi and Lesotho.

The CPA Executive Committee agreed with recommendations of CWP, that Chapters should continue to uphold gender and women matters so as to increase women representation in politics particularly in parliaments and achieving equality, development and peace.

12 29 Exco Resolutions on CWP: 1.


The CPA Executive Committee Meeting resolved that it should be in the interests of its Regional Executive, to lead from the front in order to ensure that Women Empowerment Programmes are implemented on continuous basis with the support of CPA.

2.

The CPA Executive Committee through Programme, Planning and Finance to assist CWP to budget for its activities.

3.

CWP to organise women and men, to campaign on issues of women.

4.
4.

CPA calls for quotas for women in parliament.

The purpose is to increase women representation in parliament.

The CPA Executive Meeting adopted the CWP Steering Committee report after Hon L Tsenoli, MP and Deputy Speaker of Parliament of South Africa and CPA Regional Representative of Southern Region, moved for its adoption.

The seconder was Hon .

Viana da Silva Magalhaes, MP and Branch Representative of Parliament of Mozambique.

The Report of the CWP Steering was accordingly adopted.
Consideration and Adoption of Report of Regional Representatives (RR) Sub- Committee.

The Regional Representatives (RR) Sub Committee convened its meeting on 06 March 2002 whose purpose was to prepare a report for consideration and adoption by the CPA Executive Committee Meeting of 08 March 2022.

Hon L Tsenoli, MP and Deputy Speaker of Parliament of South Africa attended the Regional Representatives (RR) Sub Committee meeting in his capacity as a Regional Representative of Southern Africa.
During the meeting of the CPA Executive Committee, the report of the Regional Representatives (RR) Sub Committee was presented by the Senior Regional Representative, Hon.

Dr. Makali Mulu, MP (Kenya).

The report highlighted activities conducted in the Sub-Regions since the last Executive Committee Meeting held on 10th November 2021 in Abuja, Nigeria.
The activities, which were conducted by Regional Representatives includes the following: • 51st CPA Africa Regional Conference: The Regional Representatives and the countries in the respective Sun-Regions attended the Executive Committee and 13 30 the Annual General Meetings that were held during the 51st CPA Africa Regional Conference in Abuja, Nigeria in November 2021.

It was during the Conference that Gambia Brach was re-admitted as a Member of the CPA.
• The 17th Conference of Speakers and Presiding Officers of the Commonwealth Africa Region held from 17th 18th November 2021 hosted by Rwanda Branch.

The conference brought together 12 National Branches of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA) Africa Region including Botswana , South Africa, Cameroon, Ghana, Kenya, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Tanzania and Uganda.
• Workshops/ Seminars and Conferences: In South Africa, the following activities took place under the leadership of Hon L Tsenoli MP and Deputy Speaker of Parliament of South Africa and the Regional Representative of Southern Region: a) Parliament of Republic of South Africa convened women’s days and completed reviewing the Women’s Charter.

b) The Regional Representative coordinated and Presided over the launch of the CPA National Branch of the Parliament of Republic of South Africa.
c) The Regional Representative attended the launch of CPA in Mpumalanga Provincial Legislature and Limpopo Branch Meeting Programme.

d) Gauteng Sub Branch of CPA convened a gender sensitization training and Social Media Training.

e) Eastern Cape CPA Sub-Branch held Men Conference in 2021, and organised a seminar in Observing Africa day.

f) Kwazulu-Natal CWP Branch convened Women Parliament to commemorate the role of Charlotte Maxeke in Women leadership.
14 31 g) Western Cape CPA Sub-Branch convened a women’s day seminar in 2021 in recognition of Women’s month.

h) The Seychelles Branch implemented a project on e-parliament upgrade through the CPA Small Branch Initiative in December 2021. i) The Regional Representative Hon L Tsenoli, participated in Legislators Summit from the 5th-6th November 2021, alongside COP26, hosted by GLOBE International and the Scottish Parliament through CPA Small Branch Network.
Other relevant and important activities undertaken by the Regional Representative Hon L Tsenoli 1) The Regional Representative for the Southern Africa Sub-Region informed the Sub-Committee that meetings and events of the CPA have been integrated in the Speakers Forum, South African Legislative Sector Program of the year.

It has also integrated the CPA Academy into the South African Parliamentary Institute (SAPI) strategic objectives.
2) The Sub-Committee also took note that the Africa Peer Review Mechanism recently visited South Africa and raised concerns on management of migration as partly discussed in Zanzibar, Tanzania.

3) The Regional Representative of Southern Africa, Hon L Tsenoli, further informed the Sub-Committee of his participation during the South African Local Government Association five-year electoral conference on migration and at an on-line Diversity Lecture organised by the CPA International Head Quarters.
Follow-up and feedback on the implementation of CPA Africa Region Conference Resolutions The Regional Representative of Southern Region Hon L Tsenoli, informed CPA Exco that Parliament of Republic of South Africa through the Focus Groups and 15 32 Speakers Forum intent to design a tracking mechanism model to follow up on resolutions passed at CPA Conferences.
Update on Subscriptions by National and Sub-National Branches a).Southern Africa Sub-Region: All the Legislatures have paid the subscription fees for financial year 2021.Parliament of Republic of South Africa is in arrears of subscription fees for the year 2021 and 2022.

The subscription fee it paid in 2021 was for the year 2020.
Gauteng, North West and Western Cape Legislatures were the only three Sub-Branches of CPA as of March 2002, that had were reported to have paid their subscription fees for the year 2022.

According to the Constitution of CPA Africa Region, Branches and Sub-Branches are expected to have paid in full their annual subscription fees before the end of January each year.

b).

Central Africa Sub-Region: Zambia is up to date except Malawi, Mozambique and Botswana.
However, the Sub-Committee was informed that Botswana is in the process of making payment by April 2022. c).

East Africa-Region: Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, and Rwanda are up to date.

Seychelles is processing payments.

Mauritius is still in arrears.

d).

West Africa Sub-Regions: Sierra Leone Branch, unlike Cameroon, Nigeria, and Ghana have pending subscription payments.
CPA Mid-Year Executive Committee Meeting: The Mid-year CPA Executive Committee International shall be held in Assam, India from 09th -10th April 2022.

Regional Representatives are expected to attend this meeting.

The RR Sub-Committee noted that the election for the position of the Chairperson, CPA Executive Committee International shall be conducted during the General Assembly due to take place in Halifax, Nova Scotia Canada from 20th -28th August 2022.
16 33 CPA ON-LINE ACADEMY: Exco noted that CPA has designed a curriculum of on-line courses specifically for Parliamentarians and Parliamentary Officials.

The courses are intended to strengthen the capacity of Parliamentarians and Parliamentary staff to fulfil their knowledge and understanding of the role of Parliament in the democratic governance process.

Branches are encouraged to enrol for the free on-line courses.

Details of the courses can be accessed on the CPA Website.
On a proposal by Dr, Abass C. Bundu, MP (Sierra Leone) and seconded by Hon.

Haruna Iddrisu, MP (Ghana) the Report of the Regional Representative was accordingly adopted.
Consideration and Adoption of Report of Programme Planning and Finance Sub- Committee The CPA Africa Region Treasurer, Hon Ntombi Mekgwe, MPL and Speaker of Gauteng Provincial Legislature presented her maiden financial report to the Exco, following her election as the Treasurer at the 52nd CPA Africa Regional Conference held in Abuja, Nigeria in November 2021.

The report among others covered the financial position of the Association as at 31st December 2021.
The meeting was informed that total subscriptions received from January to December 2021 (inclusive of arrears) was US$387,044.74 equivalent to 42% of total expected subscriptions (plus arrears) leaving an outstanding balance of US$541,955.26 equivalent to 58%.
It was further reported that, during the year under review, the Association implemented the following activities: a) CPA Africa Region Executive Committee Meeting b) Special Executive Committee Meeting c) SoCATT Professional Development Seminar d) Inaugural of People with Disability (PWDs) e) Annual Conference and General Meeting f) Speakers and Presiding Officers Conference 17 34 Following the presentation of the financial report, Exco adopted the following resolutions: • CPA to consider the matter of incentivising Branches with rebates, particularly those Branches that have paid their subscriptions well in advance.
• South Africa to propose a name for the position of Branch Rep to serve to the Programme Planning and Finance Sub-Committee.

The position became vacant owing to the election of Hon Ntombi Mekgwe as Treasurer of CPA Africa Region.

On the proposal by Hon.

Abdul Sulaiman Marray-Conteh, MP (Sierra Leone) seconded by Hon.

Elijah Okupa, MP (Uganda), the Report of the Programme Planning and Finance was duly adopted.
52nd Regional Conference CPA Africa Region and Annual General Meeting The 82nd Exco resolved that the 52nd Regional Conference of CPA Africa Region and Annual General Meeting will take from 03-09 June 2022, Freetown, Siera Leone.
The Exco adopted the theme of the conference as follows: “The Role of African Parliaments in Building Inclusive Society to Counter Growing Insecurity in Africa” Observations by South African Delegation Having attended the 82nd Executive Committee Meeting of CPA Africa Region, the SA delegation made the following observations: • The meeting was a resounding success on the basis that the Executive Committee Members of CPA Africa Region from SA Parliament, as prescribed in Article 28 of CPA Constitution managed to attend and participate in all the proceedings of the 82nd Exco Meeting in Ghana.
• The Delegation noted and congratulated once again the CPA Africa Region Treasurer Hon Ntombi Mekgwe for being part of the Office Bearers in terms of Article 38 of the CPA Constitution.

The 82nd Exco Meeting was her maiden meeting 18 35 to attend in her capacity as the Treasurer following her election in November 2021 in Abuja, Nigeria.
• During the period of the 82nd Exco Meeting (05-09 March 2022) it was reported that there were only three Sub-National Branches which had managed to pay annual subscriptions and these branches were: 1.

Gauteng Provincial Legislature 2.

North West Provincial Legislature 3.

Western Cape Provincial Legislature • Article 56 of Constitution of CPA Africa Region prescribes that “Each member country shall be liable to pay annual subscriptions fees by 31st January of each year”.
• That a position of a Representative of Sub-National Branches to participate in the deliberations of the CPA Executive Committee is vacant owing to the election of Hon Ntombi Mekgwe as a Treasurer of CPA, in November 2021.

Article 48 of CPA Constitution states that “The Chairperson, Treasurer, Vice Treasurer, CWP Chairperson and Regional Representatives, upon being elected in their respective positions, shall relinquish their positions as Branches Representatives”.
• Noted that the South African Legislative Sector (SALS) under the leadership of the Speakers’ Forum, has on 9 December 2021, launched the South African Parliamentary Institute (SAPI).

SAPI is intended to enhance the functioning of Parliament and the nine legislatures.

Its role will include the provision of capacity development programmes, and the production of quality research and knowledge management for the legislative sector.
SAPI will be governed by a board of 11 qualified members with expertise in parliamentary practice; public policy; teaching and learning; as well as finance and business matters.

The board will be accountable to the Speakers’ Forum and will serve for a period of five years (a parliamentary term).

19 36 Recommendations: • All National and Sub-National Branches must pay their annual subscriptions fees in full for both CPA Africa Region and International.
This must be before branches attend the 52nd Africa Region Conference and 65th CPC.

• The SA Delegation to finalise the nomination of the Representative of Sub- National Branches to participate in the deliberations of the CPA Executive Committee.

The position became vacant owing to the election of Hon Ntombi Mekgwe as an Office Bearer.
• The SA Delegation must convene a preparatory meeting comprising of all delegates from the national and sub-national branches, to prepare for the state of readiness for the delegation to attend the 52nd Conference to be held as from 03-09 June in Sierra Leone.

• Parliament and Provincial Legislatures to set targets to register at least for 10 to 20 Members of Parliament and Members of Provincial Legislatures with CPA On- line Parliamentary Academy.
CPA has designed a curriculum of online courses specifically for Parliamentarians and parliamentary officials.

• The SA Delegation to consider supporting a request of Kenya Branch to propose amendment to the Constitution to provide and accommodate the Persons with Disabilities (PwDs).
During the 82nd Exco Meeting, it was agreed that Kenya Branch should take steps to submit the said motion to the Secretary General of CPA International not later than May 2022, in order for the motion to be tabled for discussion at the Annual Conference in Halifax, Canada in August 2022.

• The SA Delegation must develop plans to support the Treasurer of CPA for purposes of ensuring that she excels in her position.
• Parliament and Provincial Legislatures to incorporate the CPA Calendar of Activities of 2022 into Parliamentary Programmes and Legislatures Programme.

20 37 Closing Remarks The 82nd CPA Africa Region Executive Committee Meeting was closed by Vice Chairperson.

In his closing remarks, the Vice Chairperson, Hon .

Zakarayau Galadima, MP (Nigeria), thanked members for sitting throughout the meeting and actively participating in the meeting.

Thereafter, he adjourned the meeting at 18h25, Ghanian time.
21 38 (4) Report of the 144rd Inter-Parliamentary Assembly, 20 – 24 March 2022, Indonesia.

39 REPORT OF THE 144RD IPU ASSEMBLY 20-24 March 2022 Nusa Dua, Indonesia EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The 144 Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) Assembly was held in Nusa Dua, Indonesia from 20- 24 March 2022.

The overriding Theme of the Assembly was, “Getting to 40 Zero, Mobilizing Parliaments to act on Climate Change”.
The Parliament of the Republic of South Africa was represented by the following Honourable Members and Officials in the 143rd IPU Assembly: • Hon.

Ms. Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula, MP (Speaker of the National Assembly and leader of the South African Delegation); • Ms Sylvia Lucas, MP (Deputy Chairperson of NCOP); • Hon.

Mr. Cendick Frolick, MP (House Chairperson; • Hon.

Mr. Floyd Shivambu, MP; • Hon.

Ms. Doris Dlakude; • Hon.

Ms. Fikile Masiko; and • Hon.

Ms. Annelie Lotriet, MP.


The delegation was supported by the following officials: • Ms Nogolide Nojozi, Advisor: Office of the Speaker; • Mr Job Sithole, Division Manager IRPD; • Mr Justice Molafo, Parliamentary Communication Services; • Ms Sebolelo Mvulane, Office Manager in the Office of Deputy Chair; • Mr Moloto Mothapo, Parliamentary Communication Services; • Ms Zukiswa Kula, Senior Executive Assistant: Office of the Speaker; and • Mr S’thembiso Tembe, Researcher.
The South African delegation also participated in various important meetings on the sidelines of the 144rd IPU Assembly.

These meetings and engagements include the Bilateral Meeting with the Iranian Delegation, Meeting with the Arab Parliament Delegation and Meeting with the Delegation of Belarus.
The 144th IPU Assembly occurred in the middle of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, therefore, while the focus should have been to focus on the role of Parliaments in reducing the effects of Climate Change, it was not surprising that the Russian-Ukraine conflict took a center stage in almost every discussion topic during the144TH IPU Assembly.
It was on the basis of the above, that the 144TH IPU Assembly also discussed the Russia-Ukraine conflict Emergency Item, which resulted in the passing of the resolution on, “Peaceful resolution of the war in Ukraine, respecting international law, the Charter of the United Nations and territorial integrity.
In addition to the above, the 144TH IPU Assembly also passed the following resolutions: • Leveraging Information and Communication Technology as an enabler for the education sector, including in times of pandemic; • Rethinking and reframing the approach to peace processes with a view to fostering lasting peace; • Peaceful resolution of the war in Ukraine, respecting international law, the Charter of the United Nations and territorial integrity.
2 41 The 144th IPU Assembly will be held in the Republic of Rwanda, in October 2022 1.

INTRODUCTION The 144 Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) Assembly was held in Nusa Dua, Indonesia from 20- 24 March 2022.

The overriding Theme of the Assembly was, “Getting to Zero, Mobilizing Parliaments to act on Climate Change”.

The IPU as the world Parliament continues to be driven by its vision to work for global peace, to improve the lives of the people.
Its vision and main objective is to ensure that world Parliaments works for democracy, security, stability, human rights, gender equality and sustainable development.

On the basis of the above, it was befitting that the overriding Theme of the 144rd Assembly sought to rally world Parliaments to work together in tackling the negative effects of climate change.
Addressing the effects of climate change requires a concerted effort by world Parliaments to work together and to mobilize people and resources at both national and international level in tackling this common enemy.

Climate Change is the cause of economic stagnation, job losses and excruciating ever increasing natural disasters.
In this regard, the 144th IPU Assembly provided Members of Parliament across the globe a platform and opportunity to share ideas and solutions on how to reduce the effects of Climate Change.

The South African Delegation participated actively in the Assembly, Governing Council meetings and in various Standing Committee Meetings, as well as the Forum of Women Parliamentarians and the Forum of Young MPs.

2.

DISCUSSION 2.1.
2.

DISCUSSION 2.1.

Forum of Women Parliamentarians The 33th Session of the Forum of Women Parliamentarians was held on 20 March 2022.

It brought together 129 participants, including 64 parliamentarians from 60 countries and representatives from various international organizations.

There were 55 women and 9 men among the parliamentarians who attended the Forum.

Amongst important issues that came out during the Session was a briefing on gender balance in the delegations to the 144th Assembly.
The Session was informed that there was a decrease in the participation of women in Nusa Dua compared to the situation at the 143rd Assembly.

On the basis of the above, it was agreed that the Gender Partnership Group would pursue its work towards parity.

There was also a panel discussion on Parliamentary experience in promoting women’s, children’s and adolescents’ health in the time of COVID-19 and recovering from the pandemic.
In this regard, the panel discussed the impact of COVID-19 pandemic with 3 42 a particular focus on inequitable access to health services, sexual and reproductive health and rights, child and adolescent well-being.

Participants identified the legislative and policy reforms required, and the means to strengthen their role as parliamentarians in championing sexual and reproductive health and rights.

In conclusion, the Forum for Women also filled vacant seats in the Bureau of Women Parliamentarians.

2.2.
2.2.

Forum of Young Parliamentarians The meeting of the Forum of Young Parliamentarians was held on 21 March 2022.

It brought together 65 participants, including 58 parliamentarians (25 young women and 33 young men Members of Parliament.

Forum Members reported on key developments regarding youth participation in their respective countries which included the following: 1.

The creation of youth caucuses; 2.

Empowerment, training, advocacy for youth quotas; 3.
The lowering of age eligibility to run for office.

In addition to the above, the legislative and constitutional changes which entrenches youth rights fully were also reported.

The adoption of electoral campaign financing measures in support of youth candidates in elections were also discussed.

In conclusion, the Forum also filled the vacant positions.

2.3.

Committee to promote respect for International Law The Committee to Promote Respect for International Humanitarian Law met on 23 March 2022.
While the Committee was expected to elect new President, it was unable to execute this mandate due lack of quorum.

The Committee received a brief update on the situation of refugees from Ukraine.

In this regard, the Committee members reiterated the importance of respect for the International Humanitarian Law by all parties in Ukraine conflict.

In addition to the above, the Committee members highlighted the need to provide assistance and protection to refugees, as well as support to host countries.
Lastly, the Committee reiterated the importance of dialogue and peaceful resolution.

2.4.

Advisory Group on Health The Advisory Group on Health met on 20 March 2022 and they were only 4 out of 10 members in attendance.

The Advisory Group was briefed on the process to develop a new international instrument for pandemic preparedness.
It expressed the importance for parliaments to engage in the process through the IPU and to have access to data as well as details of legislative and budgetary practices from other countries.

Finally, the Advisory Group unanimously elected Mr Jose Ignacio Echaniz of Spain as its Chair and Ms Sarai Nunez of Mexico as a Vice Chair for period of one year.

4 43 2.5.
4 43 2.5.

High Level Advisory Group on Countering Terrorism and Violent Extremism The High Level Advisory Group on Countering Terrorism and Violent Extremism (HLAG) held a meeting on 21 March 2022 and there were eleven members in attendance.

Amongst other issues, the HLAG received a report about the launch of the IPU’s new information and communication technology tools: a mobile application and an interactive map.
The mobile application was designed to facilitate interconnectivity among parliamentarians and between the IPU and national parliaments, and to provide a tool for outreach and visibility.

The HLAG also discussed the Action Plan derived from the Call of the Sahel Declaration adopted at the First Global Parliamentary Summit on Counter Terrorism.

The Declaration had brought together a parliamentary bloc that shared a strong commitment and real solidarity with the people of the Sahel.

2.6.
2.6.

Working Group on Science and Technology Two sittings of the working Group were held on 4 February and 20 March 2022.

The sittings were attended by 13 members.

The Group expressed satisfaction about the inclusion of a reference to science in the IPU Strategy for 2022-2026 under Strategic Objective 3.
Regarding the Working Group’s Work Plan, members agreed on their intention to participate in and to hold a meeting of the Working Group at the international Conference titled: Science, Ethics and Human Development in Vietnam in September 2022.

At both Sittings, the working Group also examined the proposed International Charter on Ethics of Science and Technology.

3.

SOUTH AFRICAN DELEGATION ENGAGEMENTS ON THE SIDELINES OF THE 144 RD IPU ASSEMBLY 3.1.
Bilateral Meeting with Iranian Delegation The South African Delegation, led by the Speaker of the National Assembly, Hon.

Ms. Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula held a Bilateral meeting with the Iranian Delegation.

1.

The two Parliamentary Delegations discussed ways and means of increasing their relationship and cooperation.

2.

They agreed that the relationship between South Africa and Iran is historic and it comes a long way.

3.
3.

They agreed that their relationship is at the highest level and they agreed to have timetable in monitoring progress on areas of mutual interest.

4.

They agreed to have bilateral visits.

In this regard, the two delegation agreed to create a virtual platform which will enable them to meet, discuss and consolidate their positions before the IPU meetings.

5 44 3.2.
5 44 3.2.

Bilateral Meeting with Belarusian Delegation The South African Delegation, also met with the Belarusian Delegation to discuss various issues of common interest on the sidelines of the 144TH Assembly.

Amongst issues that were discussed by the two Delegations was the Ukraine conflict.

3.3.

Bilateral Meeting with the Arab Parliament Delegation The South African Delegation led by the leader of Delegation, Hon.
Ms Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula, the Speaker of the National Assembly also met with the Delegation from the Arab Parliament to discuss issues of common interest.

As part of these discussion, the Delegation from the Arab Parliament thanked the role of the South African Delegation in defending the right of the Palestinian People to self- determination.

The two Delegations committed to strengthen their relationship and cooperation on issues of common interest in the IPU and in other international bodies.

4.
4.

NUSA DUA DECLARATION The 144 IPU Assembly adopted a Nusa Dua Declaration on the theme of the 144th Assembly, “Getting to zero: Mobilizing Parliaments to act on Climate Change”, hereunder attached.

The following are some of the IPU commitments contained by the Nusa Dua Declaration: 1.

Strengthening national-level action to meet global commitments: The IPU Members committed to enshrine a net zero emissions target in law and to implement a legal framework on emissions.
National legislative and policy frameworks on climate change must include clear, time-bound targets to facilitate oversight and accountability.

2.

Accelerating a clean energy transition for a green COVID-19 recovery: The IPU Member States committed to accelerate the clean energy transition to mitigate climate change.

This requires a major reallocation of resources from high polluting energy resources, such as fossil fuels, to renewable energy.

3.
3.

Towards inclusive climate action: Member States should adopt inclusive climate solutions the exposure of marginalized and underrepresented groups to climate change, while also empowering them to become climate leaders themselves.

that simultaneously reduce 4.

Promoting greener parliaments: Parliaments committed to reduce their own carbon footprints at an institutional level.

Parliaments must lead by example in reducing emissions in their parliaments.

5.
5.

Enhancing regional and global cooperation for joint climate solutions: The IPU must strive to strengthen partnerships with key international organizations and forums working on climate change, including the Climate Vulnerable Forum, the Global 6 45 Center on Adaptation, the Secretariat of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the United Nations Environment Programme.
In addition to the above, Parliaments need to build a stronger relationship with the private sector, including the transitional corporations.

The comprehensive Nusa Dua Declaration is attached as part of Delegation Report for the ease of reference.

5.

RESOLUTIONS ADOPTED BY THE 144TH IPU ASSEMBLY The following are some of the Resolutions adopted by the 144th IPU Assembly: 1.

Leveraging Information and Communication Technology as an enabler for the education sector, including in times of pandemic; 2.
Rethinking and reframing the approach to peace processes with a view to fostering lasting peace; 3.

Peaceful resolution of the war in Ukraine, respecting international law, the Charter of the United Nations and territorial integrity.

5.1.

Resolution on leveraging Information and Communication Technology as an enabler for the education sector, including in times of pandemic.

The following are some of the issues contained in this resolution: 1.
Called upon parliaments and governments to ensure policies and resources allocated to encourage the use of the ICT in education and ICT related training and employment to empower women and girls, including by settling targets, quotas and other positive measures; 2.

Invited parliaments and governments to support the UN Technology Bank for Least Developed Countries in its efforts to bridge the digital divides; 3.
Urged governments and private sector to work together to remove technological barriers by investing in digital infrastructure and lowering connectivity and device costs, and to support open educational resources and open digital access.

5.2.

Resolution on Rethinking and reframing the approach to peace processes with a view to fostering lasting peace.

The following are some of the issues contained in this resolution: 1.
Called upon parliaments and parliamentarians to intensify their efforts for peace and the non-violent resolutions of differences before, during and after conflict; and if such efforts prove to be unsuccessful, to call upon international actors for assistance; 7 46 2.
Encouraged parliaments, in their efforts to pursue peace, to systematically partner with the executive sector, independent oversight bodies, civil society organizations, faith based movements, women groups, community organizations, peace builders, academia, media, the private sector, and regional and international bodies, in their own countries and internationally.

3.
3.

Urged parliaments, their members and political parties to form partnerships to address and reverse hate speech and disinformation, including those online, and to encourage more diverse and inclusive political participation and representation.

5.3.

Peaceful resolution of the war in Ukraine, respecting international law, the Charter of the United Nations and territorial integrity.

The Ukraine-Russia conflict dominated discussions on all discussion topics of the 144TH IPU Assembly.
It is on the basis of the above, that before the adoption of this resolution, there was fierce, frank and at times emotional debate amongst the IPU Delegates on Ukraine-Russia conflict.

The comprehensive resolution of the war in Ukraine is accordingly attached as part of this draft report for the ease of reference.

6.RECOMMENDATIONS FOR THE ATTENTION OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN PARLIAMENT 6.1.

Inadequate support from DIRCO to the South African Delegation that attended the 144th IPU Assembly.
While other members of delegation from other countries who attended the 144th IPU Assembly in Nusa Dua, Indonesia, were fully supported by senior officials from their embassies, there was no one from the South African Embassy in Jakarta to support the South African Delegation.

This occurred notwithstanding the fact that the South African Delegation was led by the Speaker of the National Assembly.
The lack of support to the South African Delegation who attended the 144TH IPU Assembly was not an isolated incident.

There has been a general concern about the lack of adequate support to the South African Delegations who attend international gatherings to represent our Parliament.
While the Acting Secretary to Parliament has already written to the Director General of DIRCO, requesting a meeting to discuss these concerns and to agree on the steps that need to be taken to address this, there hasn’t been any indication on when the requested meeting is likely to take place.

In fact, there is no indication whether the DG of DIRCO has responded or acknowledge receipt of the correspondence from Parliament.
On the basis of the above, it is recommended that the South African Parliament, through the responsible Portfolio Committee or the Speaker of the National Assembly should seek an audience with the Minister of DIRCO to discuss these concerns with an aim to find lasting solution.

8 47 6.2.

Emergency Item on the transformation of the United Nations during the 145th IPU Assembly in Rwanda in October 2022.
The South African Delegation to the 144th IPU Assembly proposed that, as part of our participation to the 145th IPU Assembly, in October 2022, in Rwanda, the South African Delegation should submit an Emergency Item on the transformation of the United Nations.
On the basis of the above, it is recommended that the South African Delegation should work with the Geo African Group and other progressive Geo Political Groups in drafting this Emergency Item and submit it on time for consideration by the IPU Assembly.
9 48 (5) Report of the SA delegation to the 60th Organization of African, Caribbean, Pacific (OACP) States Parliamentary Assembly and the 41st Session of the African, Caribbean, and Pacific – European (ACP-EU) Joint Parliamentary Assembly, 29 Mar – 3 April 2022, France.
49 REPORT OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN DELEGATION TO THE 60th ORGANISATION OF AFRICAN, CARIBEAN, AND PACIFIC (OACP) STATES PARLIAMENTARY ASSEMBLY AND THE 41st SESSION OF THE AFRICAN, CARIBEAN, AND PACIFIC – EUROPEN UNION (ACP-EU) JOINT PARLIAMENTARY ASSEMBLY STRASBOURG, FRANCE 29 March – 3 April 202 50 TABLE OF CONTENTS 1.

INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................... 2 1.1.
Composition Of The Delegation ................................................................. 2 1.1.1.

Members of Parliament ............................................................................... 2 1.1.2.

Parliamentary Staff ...................................................................................... 2 2.

BACKGROUND ................................................................................................ 3 3.
THE ACP COMMITTEE: DISCUSSION AND KEY ISSUES ............................ 4 3.1.

Committee on the Economic Development, Trade, and Finance ............... 4 3.1.1.

The EU List of Non-cooperative tax jurisdictions .................................... 5 3.1.2.

The EU “Farm to Fork” and Biodiversity strategies ................................ 7 3.2.

Committee on Political Affairs .................................................................... 9 3.2.1.
ECOWAS ...................................................................................................... 9 3.2.2.

COMESA .................................................................................................... 10 3.2.3.

The Carribean ............................................................................................ 11 3.3.

Committee on Social Affairs and the Environment ................................... 11 4.
60TH SESSION OF THE ORGANISATION OF AFRICAN CARIBBEAN PACIFIC PLENARY ASSEMBLY .......................................................................... 12 4.1.

State of the Organisation Address ........................................................... 13 5.

THE SOUTHERN AFRICA REGION MEETING ............................................. 15 6.
MEETINGS OF THE ACP-EU JOINT PARLIAMENTARY ASSEMBLY ........ 15 (a) (b) (c) Threats to peace and security in the Sahel Region .................................. 16 Impact of COVID-19 on Education ........................................................... 17 The conflict between Russia and Ukraine ................................................ 18 (d) Draft Rules of Procedure for the Joint Parliamentary Assembly .............. 19 7.
OBSERVATIONS ............................................................................................ 20 7.1.

General Observations .............................................................................. 20 7.2.

Observations - South African Delegation ................................................. 21 8.

RECOMMENDATIONS ................................................................................... 22 1 51 1.
INTRODUCTION The South African Parliamentary Delegation attended the 60th Organisation of African, Caribbean, and Pacific States (OACPS) Parliamentary Assembly and the 41st Session of the African, Caribbean, and Pacific – European Union (ACP-EU) Joint Parliamentary Assembly (JPA) from 29 March – 3 April 2022 in Strasbourg, France.

These were the first OACPS Parliamentary Assembly and ACP-EU JPA since 2019.
In 2020 and 2021, these events were held virtually due to the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organisation (WHO) at the beginning of 2020 that led to travel restrictions globally and a lockdown in South Africa.

The South African Delegation participated in the virtual meeting.

South Africa is a Member and Chair of the OACPS Parliamentary Assembly Committee on Economic Development, Finance, and Trade.
Membership in the above-mentioned Committee automatically makes South Africa a Member of the Bureau of the OACPS Parliamentary Assembly.

1.1.

Composition Of The Delegation 1.1.1.

Members of Parliament Name of Member Political Party Hon.

S. Mohai, MP (Leader of the Delegation African National Congress (ANC) Hon.

D. Macpherson Democratic Alliance (DA) Hon.

N. Abrahams who was initially supposed to join the Delegation was later unable to join.

1.1.2.
1.1.2.

Parliamentary Staff Name Ms. Z. Madalane Mr. M. Ngese Designation Researcher Researcher 2 52 Mr. Z. Mvulane Ms. A. Dlomo Ms. J. Paulsen Office of the NCOP Chief Whip International Relations and Protocols Division International Relations and Protocols Division Only Ms. Madalane, Mr. Ngese, and Mr. Mvulane travelled to Strasbourg with the Delegation.

2.
2.

BACKGROUND As stated above, this OACPS Parliamentary session and ACP-EU JPA was the first physical meeting since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.

As a result, there were a number of important issues of discussion in the Committees and the Parliamentary Assemblies.

The work of the OACPS is undertaken through three Committees, namely; the Political Affairs Committee; the Economic Development, Finance, and Trade Committee; and the Social and Environmental Affairs Committee.
The Committees met on 29 and 30 March 2022 for discussion on issues currently affecting the ACP states including; • Threats to stability, security, and democracy in Western and Sahelian Africa; • Enhancing the resilience of small island developing states against climate change and natural disasters; • EU List of Non-cooperative tax jurisdictions and that of high-risk third countries; • The Role of Parliament on the Control of Pandemics, Particularly the COVID-19 Pandemic; • The EU “Farm to Fork” and Biodiversity strategies as part of its Green Deal; and • Climate change crisis.
On 31 March 2022, the meeting of the ACP Parliamentary Assembly focused on the New Post 2020 Cotonou Agreement, a strategy for enhancing the Parliamentary dimension in the new agreement, and Committee Reports.

The ACP-EU JPA met from 1 to3 April 2022 to discuss the ACP-EU relationship, Urgent 3 53 Motions including a motion on the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, the Draft Rules of Procedure, and the Role of the Parliamentary Assembly in the new rules.
Members attended and actively participated in all meetings.

As a Chairperson of the Economic Development, Finance, and Trade Committee, South Africa represented by the Leader of the Delegation, Hon.

Mohai met with the OACPS Secretariat to discuss the chairing of the Committee and relevant issues.

The new Post 2020 Cotonou Agreement which will replace the Cotonou Agreement was a 20-year agreement between the ACP States and the EU.

The Cotonou Agreement came into force in 2000 and ended in June 2020.
However, because at the time there was no agreement in place, the ACP states and the EU agreed on extending the Cotonou Agreement for a period of two years to June 2022.

It is in this context that the new Post 2020 Cotonou Agreement, which concluded in 2021 was presented to the Parliamentarians.

In addition, there was also a discussion on the Draft Rules for the new agreement.

3.

THE ACP COMMITTEE: DISCUSSION AND KEY ISSUES 3.1.


Committee on the Economic Development, Trade, and Finance The meeting of this Committee took place on 29 March 2022 and was chaired by Hon.

S. Mohai as the Leader of the South African Delegation.

In preparation for the meeting, Hon.

Mohai met and was briefed by the OACPS Secretariat on the rules of procedure for the meeting as well as pertinent issues to be discussed in the meeting.
The Committee discussed the EU List of Non-cooperative tax jurisdictions and that of high-risk third countries with deficiencies in their anti-money laundering regime and countering the financing of the terrorism list of countries, and the EU “Farm to Fork” and Biodiversity strategies as part of its Green Deal.
In terms of the EU list of Non-cooperative tax jurisdictions, discussions focused on how countries have improved their tax systems and were subsequently removed from the list as well as the impact that the list has on countries and their economies, particularly their 4 54 ability to attract investment.
On the other hand, the discussion on the “Farm to Fork” and Biodiversity strategies focused on the impact of the strategies’ and rules which could become Technical and/or Non-Tariffs Barriers to Trade for OACPS exporters.

3.1.1.

The EU List of Non-cooperative tax jurisdictions In 2017, the EU adopted a list of non-cooperative tax jurisdictions.

The purpose of which was to improve international tax governance.
The list comprises of countries that according to the EU “encourage abusive tax practices” therefore eroding the EU countries’ tax revenue.

The list aims to address; (i) tax fraud or tax evasion: illegal non-payment or underpayment of tax; (ii) tax avoidance: use of legal means to minimise tax liability; and (iii) money laundering: disguise of origins of illegally obtained money.
The EU monitors countries that do not comply with all international tax standards but have committed to reform and are removed from the list once they fully comply.
The semi-annual review follows a process of: (a) Setting the criteria based on international tax standards; (b) Screening countries against the set criteria; (c) Engage countries that do not comply; (d) Remove countries that comply; and (e) Monitor developments in complying countries to ensure that they continue to comply It was noted that more than 50% of countries in the EU’s list of non-cooperative jurisdictions are ACP countries and that the list adversely affects the countries on the list.
Other issues raised in respect of the EU list of Non-cooperative tax jurisdictions included: (a) The unilateral approach to developing the list: The EU is said to be unilateral in its approach, including countries on this list approach without prior consultation with the respective countries which is seen as punitive.

Hence Members called on the European Parliament for 5 55 support to avoid the establishment of unilateral lists and to strengthen dialogue between the EU and the respective countries.
(b) Financial scrutiny of the countries on the list: Furthermore, once a country is on the list, it will be subjected to certain conditions including financial scrutiny.

(c) Impact on attracting investment: the impact of countries listed as Non-cooperative tax jurisdictions adversely impacts the country’s ability to attract investment as investors consider the tax system and related issues.

This consequently impacts the countries’ economic growth.
Fiji was one of the countries that highlighted this, noting that it had used tax incentives to attract investment, the EU however recognised the use of such incentives as a lack of cooperation.

Members noted that the list of non-cooperative tax jurisdictions limits the countries’ ability to use taxation in full sovereignty as an economic instrument to attract investment, and create jobs through granting the necessary tax incentives.
(d) The need for ACP countries to work together to resolve issues: Various countries shared experiences in respect of the EU List of Non- cooperative tax jurisdictions.

While some countries such as Mauritius have been able to comply with the reforms and eventually be removed from the list, others remain on the list and struggle to implement the required reforms.
The Committee noted the need for countries to work together in sharing experiences and strengthen intra-ACP coordination to form a bloc to engage the EU in the discussions on these lists.

(e) Enquiry on the impact of the EU List: Some countries requested that there be an enquiry on how the EU List on non-cooperative tax jurisdictions impacts countries on the list including reputational damage.
Among the key issues raised in this regard was that the EU terminated bank accounts of Embassies of countries that it deemed non-cooperative, leaving Embassies unable to even pay staff salaries.

6 56 (f) Undermining cooperation: several countries perceived the EU List on non-cooperative tax jurisdiction as undermining the cooperation agreement between the ACP States and the EU.
As a result of the robust discussion, the Committee proposed that the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly discuss the challenges and prospects of European Union List implementation and hence draft a resolution to this effect.

The proposal was further raised during the ACP Parliamentary Assembly.
However, due to time constraints and the full programme of the JPA, and the view that the discussion would not be constructive because the EU counterparts would not be properly prepared given the short notice, the matter could not be accommodated.

3.1.2.
3.1.2.

The EU “Farm to Fork” and Biodiversity strategies In terms of the EU “Farm to Fork” and Biodiversity strategies, the Committee discussed the impact of the rules/ regulations that are currently being developed on facilitating agricultural trade between the ACP countries and the EU.

In the presentation, it was noted that the rules/ regulation may include technical barriers to trade (TBTs) and/ or non-tariff barriers to trade for ACP countries that export to the EU.
This does not bode well for the trading relations between the ACP States and the EU.

Issues raised included the following: (a) The need to guarantee that ACP exporters and farmers maintain competitive access to the EU market.

Should the regulations that are being developed become technical or non-tariff barriers to trade they would limit the ease and extent to which the ACP countries trade (particularly export) with the EU.
Consequently, this would weaken their competitiveness; (b) Ensuring that ACP exporters and farmers have sufficient time and resources to adapt to the ever-evolving regulations; (c) Enabling ACP stakeholders to participate in the development of new regulations, as mandated by OACPS.
At the level of the JPA, the Committee was of the view that the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary 7 57 Assembly should be used as a platform for dialogue to discuss and resolve any challenges between the counterparts; (d) Ensuring intra-OACPS and OACPS-EU sharing of knowledge, expertise, and practices and cooperation; and (e) Actions required to reduce the negative impact of new EU regulations on OACPS Small, Micro, and Medium Enterprises (SMMEs).
Additionally, The adaptation of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises in the OACPS countries to the new EU regulations.
In its discussions, the Committee raised several issues, which included the following: (a) Difficulties in adapting to rules in which one has not participated in their development; (b) Barriers to trade: Barriers to accessing the market and the need to strengthen agricultural organisations in terms of quality and competitiveness; (c) Transitional Period for new rules: the Committee noted with concern that there is often limited time given to exporters to be able to comply with new rules.
Therefore, it was proposed that OACPS should ensure that rules adopted give sufficient time for exporters to comply with the new rules and that all the measures required to comply with the rules (such as technical support) are put in place prior to the implementation of the rules; (d) Technical Assistance: The need for financial and technical assistance to combat deforestation.
While there were discussions on technical support from SMMEs across countries with the ACP group, some countries called for technical support to mitigate deforestation and the impact of climate change such as drought on their agricultural sectors.

They further called for support in the adoption of new production techniques to meet the challenges of climate change; and (e) The ability and manner to influence trade issues at the global level.
At a global level, given the combined number, economic and political power that the ACP countries have, collectively they should start working together in participating in and influencing trade decisions of the World Trade 8 58 Orgaisation (WTO) and labour-related decisions of the International Labour Organisation (ILO).
The presenter, Mr. Oliveira Gómez Assistant Secretary for Structural Economic Transformation and Trade in the ACP, proposed that at the OACPS level, the above-mentioned issues can be resolved by an establishment of an OACPS Early Warming Mechanism (EWM) on Regulations affecting trade with the EU.
The purpose of the EWM would be to ensure that there is (i) Follow up of the regulatory process at an EU level on agricultural selected value chains of products from the ACP countries such as Cashew, Livestock, Maize, Cotton, Coconuts, Rum, Cocoa, Coffee, Kava, Sugar and Cassava; (ii) an analysis of new regulations and their impact on the competitiveness of OACPS exporters; and (iii) sharing of information on regulations and impact thereof to ACP countries (exporters and other relevant stakeholders); (iv) provision of short term technical assistance to ACP countries to enable them to comply with the set regulations.
3.2.

Committee on Political Affairs The Committee on Political Affairs met on 29 March 2022 to discuss the peace and security challenges of the ACP states.

Central to these discussions were the issues of conflict and violence in West Africa particularly the Sahel region and the Caribbean.

Presentations were made in respect of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), and the Caribbean.

3.2.1.
3.2.1.

ECOWAS The Committee received an update on the political and security situation in the Sahel region.

It was noted that efforts had been made in the region, however, the region faces a complex security situation because of human trafficking, drug trafficking, and money laundering.

In recent years, there has been an increase in the spread of extremism and terrorism with several rebel groups and terrorist associations moving from country to country, mostly along the Sahel border.
In particular, there has been a shift towards the coast with Burkina Faso and Mali experiencing approximately 40% and 30% of incidents, respectively.

9 59 It was further reported that the number of victims of conflict and violence increased by 500% between 2011 and 2018.

There were more than 450 000 refugees as a result, mostly Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) from Burkina Faso and Nigeria.
As a result of the conflict and violence, there is a food and nutrition problems for approximately 4 million people.
In terms of interventions to address these challenges, the presentation highlighted the adoption of the convention of small weapons in 2005, and the 2018 Regional Plan on Security which was adopted and implemented in 2020 which includes (i) $125 million for the training of counter-terrorism groups; (ii) Information sharing between security services between countries; and (iii) Sharing of equipment to deal with increased terrorism from which countries such as Mali and Burkina Faso have benefited greatly.
The presentation also highlighted some issues in respect of Political Governance Strategy in West Africa relating to the Protocol on Democracy and Good Governance adopted in 2001.

It was emphasised that some countries are able to manage conflict as a result of the protocol, however, gains of political governance are still fragile.

Therefore there is a need for country-specific responses based on strong constitutional principles.
It was further emphasised that ECOWAS has always maintained the need to keep the ongoing dialogue so as to ensure an acceptable timeline to restore order and that dialogue in the region should continue.

3.2.2.

COMESA The political instabilities in Sudan and Somalia were highlighted.

In Sudan, the presentation focused on progress that had been made and an agreement between parties in order to resolve the conflict with the transitional government assisting in this regard.
Regarding Somalia, it was noted that delays in elections due to the lack of consensus including modalities of holding elections have led to continued conflict.

Violent protests by civil groups, political parties, and civil society.

10 60 One of the concerns raised was that countries that do not normally experience terrorist attacks in the Sub-Saharan Africa region have recently suffered incidents.

3.2.3.
3.2.3.

The Carribean Security in the Caribbean was said to be multidimensional as it includes transnational crimes and gang violence.

In Haiti for example, security threats were said to be at very high levels with incidents of both the assassination in 2021 and the kidnapping of doctors.

While Jamaica, similarly to Haiti was affected by gang violence.

The challenge of violent crimes in the Caribbean is said to have been compounded by gender-based violence (GBV) during the COVID-19 lockdown.
Incidents of sexual assault/harassment in countries have been increasing since 2016.

3.3.

Committee on Social Affairs and the Environment The Committee met on 30 March 2022.

The focus of the discussions included the Role of Parliament during the COVID-19 Pandemic and the Climate Change Crisis.
In terms of the role of Parliament, discussions focused on how Parliaments were able to speedily approved budgets for fighting COVID-19 and mitigating the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic; educated citizens on the pandemic and the importance of vaccinating; and supported programmes for economic recovery.

Moreover, the adverse impact of the pandemic, in particular on economic growth, employment, and education were discussed.
It was discussed how the pandemic has highlighted the existing inequalities and digital divide as well as created a new level of inequalities within countries between the rich and the poor and between countries, least developed, developing, and developed.

For example, inequalities within countries were mainly evident in the education sector, where children in the more affluent communities were able to continue with education virtually while those in rural or poor communities were unable to do so.
This highlighted existing inequalities as well as created further inequalities as the poor/disadvantaged children had lost irrecoverable class time.

11 61 It was acknowledged that the impact of climate change continues to significantly impact particularly smaller countries and Small Island Developing States.
In the presentation on this topic, it was noted that countries still fail to meet their commitments on climate change; there is a need for adaptation financing to be taken seriously; there is a need to increase financing for mitigation and adaptation; and the need for collaborative efforts in mitigating climate change.

Among the issues raised were the following: a) The need to prioritise dealing with the impact of and mitigating climate change.
Some countries such as Sierra Leone noted that they have ministries dealing directly with environment and climate change issues; b) The role of Parliaments on climate change.

Parliaments need to pass legislation on climate change and the environment and ensure that there is adequate resourcing for the implementation of such legislation; c) Collaborative efforts in dealing with climate change.

The need for countries to work together to mitigate climate change.
It was noted that the countries most affected include small islands and coastal states.

Seemingly, dealing with climate change alone without the support of other countries; and- d) Impact of fossil fuels on the environment and the need to move towards the use of more renewable energies.

4.

60TH SESSION OF THE ORGANISATION OF AFRICAN CARIBBEAN PACIFIC PLENARY ASSEMBLY The plenary sessions of the ACP took place on 31 March 2022 and began with reflections from the President, Hon.
Peter Kenilorea Jr. and the Secretary-General, H.E.

Mr. Georges Rebelo Pinto Chikoti.

Key among the reflections was the impact of COVID-19 on the organisation as well as on the Member states.

In terms of the organisation they highlighted the extension of the Cotonou Agreement which was supposed to end in 2020 and extended to 2022 as well as the negotiations and development of the new agreement.
Also, they highlighted the success of the organisation in continuing its work through virtual meetings in the past two years as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

12 62 The session also heard and engaged in the discussions of the Committee Meetings of the Political Affairs; Economy, Trade, Finance and Economic Development (Hon.

Mohai, Leader of the South African Delegation presented the Report for this Committee); and Social Affairs and Environment.
One of the key issues that the session deliberated on was the proposed engagement with the EU counterparts during the Joint Plenary session on the impact of the EU list on non-cooperative tax jurisdictions.

While there was a general agreement that such joint engagement is necessary, because of time constraints and the short notice which will affect the preparedness of the parties for such as discussion, there was a view that the discussion can be held at a later date, virtually.
Members states also expressed views with respect to the new OACPS-EU agreement and its Draft Rules.

In his address, the President had noted that the plan is to have the new agreement signed by June 2022.

Among the issues raised by member countries was the role of Parliaments in ratifying the agreement and the limited time for that process to be effectively undertaken in the next three months.

The matter of ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine was also discussed.
In particular, how the OACPS would approach the imminent joint debate and the Joint Statement in the JPA.

With member states having varying views on the matter, it was difficult to find a way of approaching this as a collective.

It was then decided that each country (that wishes to do so) would articulate its position in the JPA rather than the OACPS having a common position.

4.1.

State of the Organisation Address The newly appointed Secretary-General H.E.
Mr. Georges Rebelo Pinto Chikoti delivered his maiden State of the Organisation Address following his appointment in March 2020.

The State of the Organisation highlighted one of the greatest successes as the initiation, and negotiation of the New OACPS-EU Partnership Agreement.

He identified the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on the ACP States as the largest challenge.
However, despite the challenges, he reiterated his 13 63 commitments to improving the organisation including the parliamentary component of the OACPS.

The OACPS strategy for 2022 -2025 had been developed and will be implemented.
The objectives are: (i) Enhancing Intra-OACPS cooperation and collaboration; (ii) Enhancing and broadening the role and visibility of the OACPS on the international scene; (iii) Securing new alliances and strengthening the partnership with the EU; (iv) Adapting and modernising the OACPS Secretariat; and (v) Achieving sustainable financing of the Secretariat.
In this regard, OACPS will focus on achieving: a) Sustainable and inclusive development; b) Governance and peacebuilding; c) Environment and Climate change; d) Multilateralism and global governance; and e) Focus on women and youth affairs as cross-cutting themes In addition, he emphasised the importance of cooperation in implementing the new OACPS-EU Partnership Agreement.
Cooperation requires that there is more consultation and greater exchanges among the countries in the OACPS regions through the regional blocs and between OACPS and the EU on matters of common interest.

In further strengthening regional relationships, the OACPS through its Secretariat aims to build working relationships with the Commission and Secretariats of the African Union, Pacific Island Forum, and the Caribbean Community Initiatives.
Such relationships will allow the OACPS to establish a universal vulnerability index for commodity-dependent developing countries, including Small Island Developing States (SIDS); exploit opportunities for transitionary financing for climate adaptation; utilise the digital economy to boost economic recoveries; contribute to addressing the digital divide; support SIDS economies and build resilience; and develop strategies to address the root causes of violence against women and girls, transform harmful social norms, provide services for survivors, and end impunity; among others.
14 64 Lastly, he noted the need and importance of countries to continue to make contributions to the OACPS as this will assist the organisation in fulfilling its mandate.

5.

THE SOUTHERN AFRICA REGION MEETING Countries in Southern Africa met to discuss which country will host the next OACPS Parliamentary Assembly and the OACPS-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly.

The meetings rotate between regions and between countries to allow all member states an opportunity to be the host.
The meeting discussed countries that would be possible hosts, some countries were excluded from consideration because they had either hosted similar events in the past or were not ready to host.

Mozambique volunteered to be the host.

This was welcomed by South Africa and other countries.

The meeting accepted Mozambique as the host and noted that for the event to be successful countries including South Africa, Botswana, Zambia, and Eswatini should support Mozambique in hosting.

6.
MEETINGS OF THE ACP-EU JOINT PARLIAMENTARY ASSEMBLY The Official Opening of the ACP-EU JPA consisted of statements by the following key individuals: • Ms. Roberta Metsola, President of the EU Parliament • Mr. Clement Beaune, Minister in France and President of the EU Council • Mr. Carlos Zorrinho, Co-President of the Joint Parliamentary Assembly • Mr. Peter Kenilorea Jr., Co-President of the Joint Parliamentary Assembly In the opening speakers highlighted the conflict between Russia and Ukraine; the impact on global economies including the Africa, Caribbean, Pacific, and European Union countries; and the new OACP-EU Agreement.
The first sitting of the JPA was chaired by the EU Co-President who made several announcements including logistics of the JPA and workshops.

On the matter of logistics, ACP Member countries raised concern that the matter of entry into the EU 15 65 Parliament where members were required to take a COVID-19 test every second day despite being vaccinated.
While the matter had somewhat been resolved with members given blue armbands to secure their entry into the building, members raised concerns about the lack of communication and how members were treated while trying to enter the building.

Ms. Jutta Urpilained, a Member of the European Commission responsible for international partnerships made statements on the impact of the Russia-Ukraine conflict and the role that should be played by the ACP-EU.
In this regard, she noted that the ACP-EU should continue to be a rules-based organisation hence addressing the conflict situation.

She also highlighted other challenges including the impact of climate change on developing countries and access to COVID-19 vaccines.
On international partnerships, she mentioned the following: (a) EU’s investment in infrastructure development in partner ACP countries in various sectors including transport, energy, and education; (b) Investment facilitated potential projects in the agricultural sector value chain that would create jobs and improve food security; and (c) Investment in 18 projects in pacific countries on climate change.
In response to her presentation delegates expressed their view with respect to EU investments in particular that: there should be mutual partnerships rather than donor partnerships with the ACP countries, and the EU should not continue to invest in projects that harm the environment.
The first sitting of the JPA also had an exchange of view on Urgent Topics on (a) Threats to stability, security, and democracy in Western and Sahelian Africa, (b) Enhancing the resilience of small island developing states against climate change and natural disasters, and (c) Impact of the conflict between Russia.

It also discussed the impact of COVID-19 on Education and Overcoming the global COVID-19 pandemic: cooperation for economic recovery and investments to achieve Universal Health Coverage.
(a) Threats to peace and security in the Sahel Region 16 66 The JPA also exchanged views on the conflict in the Sahel Region and West Africa.

Key issues included the impact of the conflict on food security and security in general; poverty and inequality; underdevelopment; and governance.

It was noted that the region, in addition to the political interventions requires investment in education and infrastructure; an increase in economic activities that create jobs; and an increase in trade.
Members also expressed concern with the contribution of external forces (countries) that exacerbate the situation in the Sahel region including support through weapons and funding of the conflict.

It was further emphasized that there is a need to treat or respond to conflict in the same manner whether the conflict is in Africa, Europe, or elsewhere in the world.

The Leader of the South African Delegation, expressed views on this debate.

Particularly noting South Africa’s position.


He stated that “The Sahel region faces multiple and multifaceted challenges with devastating consequences for states and their populations.

The nexus between development and security is clearly established in this region where these phenomena interact with each other in a feedback loop effect.
In this context, we stress the need for a holistic approach comprising political, security, and socio-economic development interventions that will lead to lasting peace and stability in the region.” He further reiterated South Africa’s position stating that “South Africa will continue to work with all members of the United Nations, the African Union, the Southern African Development Community, and other relevant parties in addressing the scourge of terrorism and all its attendant manifestations at the regional and international level.” (b) Impact of COVID-19 on Education The sitting also had a presentation on the impact of COVID-19 on education.
According to the presentation on the topic, the number of children who are unable to read may increase from 53% to 70%.

School dropouts in developing countries are also increasing.

Furthermore, COVID-19 exacerbated the divide between the rich and the poor countries and between the rich and poor people within a country.

17 67 A divide was created between the rich who had access to online learning and the poor students without access to online learning.
The Delegates highlighted the following issues in this regard: a) The impact of children being out of school on mental health and the exploitation of young children, especially girls; b) The need to assist ACP states to improve access to education through access to technology; c) The need to increase national budgets for education; d) The importance of different strategies to curb teenage pregnancy in the school system as well as child marriages.

Zambia is one of the countries that have this challenge.
; e) The abduction of children in Nigeria means that children cannot even go to school.

Parents are afraid to send their children to school.

There was a call for countries globally to assist in resolving this; and f) Allowing Ukraine students that have been displaced by the conflict to study in other countries, particularly in the EU is a way of solidarity with Ukraine.

The South African Delegation through Hon.


Macpherson participated in this debate highlighting factors that adversely affect the education system and ways to address them.

(c) The conflict between Russia and Ukraine Among the issues raised in respect of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine was mainly the loss of lives and livelihoods of the people of Ukraine.
Moreover, the impact of the conflict on other countries including the migration patterns to other countries in Europe, and the impact on oil prices and food security globally.

Both Russia and Ukraine are among the largest oil and wheat exporters globally.

The issue of conflict between Russia and Ukraine was the most robustly debated issue during the JPA with differing and opposing views from the EU and from individual countries on how to address the situation.
In the main, the EU condemned Russia for the conflict and called for sanctions against it.

It also 18 68 reiterated its support for Ukraine.

While other countries including South Africa called for dialogue that would lead to a peaceful resolution to the conflict.

When this topic was originally proposed for debate, it was envisaged that it will culminate in a Joint Statement.
However, because of the vastly varying views between the EU and the ACP countries, there was a decision not to have a Joint Statement.

Prior to this decision, there were attempts to draft a statement.

The Bureau of the OACPS met on the sidelines of the JPA to discuss the first draft of the statement but because of the varying views within the OACPS, there was no consensus.

Hence the decision against a Joint Statement.


The South African Delegation participated in this debate through the Leader of the Delegation, Hon.

Mohai.

He stated South Africa’s position on the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, particularly stating that “The South Africa Parliament continues to be concerned about the conflict, which threatens global peace, security, and economy, and has called for the immediate cessation of hostilities through dialogue, mediation and negotiations”.
He further stated that “Of great concern, Mr. President, is the fact that in these situations, women and children are affected the most.

We are of the firm view that durable peace is needed in Ukraine and that our collective efforts as the international community in general and parliaments in particular, should seek to help the two countries to find a peaceful solution.

We urge both countries to fully commit to the peaceful negotiation process.
We, therefore, call for the cessation of hostilities and de-escalation in order to enable the mediation process which is a catalyst for lasting peace.” (d) Draft Rules of Procedure for the Joint Parliamentary Assembly The JPA also discussed the Draft Rules of Procedure for the Joint Parliamentary Assembly under the new post-Cotonou Agreement which is yet to be ratified.
It was noted that in the drafting of the rules there had been consultations with experts, former Presidents of the ACP-EU, civil society, and Parliamentarians through the Bureau on the OACPS side.

Key features of the new rules in respect of the JPA highlighted include: 19 69 (a) Committees cease to exist under the new rules, instead, committees will exist in the regional assemblies; (b) A Scrutiny Committee is introduced – this Committee will follow up on decisions and resolutions of the JPA.
It will also be responsible for future reviews of the agreement; (c) Introduction of the Women’s Forum and the Youth Forum as permanent features of the JPA; (d) Civil society will also be a permanent feature of the JPA; (e) The number of JPA annually – the number according to the new rules is reduced from two JPAs to one JPA; and (f) New rules in respect of powers of presidents and the Bureau; and (g) The Composition of the Parliament – there is consistency in the composition of the Joint Parliamentary Assembly (JPA) and the Regional Parliamentary Assembly (RPA) 7.
OBSERVATIONS 7.1.

General Observations (a) The ACP countries (Parliamentary Assembly) were seemingly not as involved as the EU in the development of Joint Statements.

To this end, there was limited input on the outcome of the debate on SIDS, a topic that mostly affects ACP states.

(b) There is seemingly a lack of understanding of the role of Parliament versus the role of the executive in the negotiations relating to the new Post-Cotonou Agreement.
As a result, the ratification of the agreement by all countries may be delayed beyond the June 2022 deadline.

(c) Given that OACPS is a group of many countries, it was difficult to get a common position on several areas of discussion contrary to the EU which is a group with common policies among countries.
(d) Inconsistency in attendance by ACP states in the OACPS Parliamentary Assembly, its Bureau, and the ACP-EU Joint 20 70 Parliamentary Assembly affect the quality of engagement as not all countries are on par with all decisions taken.

(e) There is a willingness from ACP countries to share knowledge and experiences in a number of areas.

(f) The cooperation between the ACP states and the EU was somewhat questionable.
Particularly with the unilateral approach with which the EU introduced the List of Non-cooperative tax jurisdiction and the "farm to fork" strategy.

There is seemingly an expectation from the ACP states for the EU to be more cooperative therefore consulting on decisions that affect ACP states as its partners.

(g) There seems to be uncertainty about the new agreement.

There is seemingly no consensus buy-in from Member countries on this new agreement.
On several occasions, it was said that the OACPS will break the OACPS as regional assemblies of the respective Regional Assemblies take over some roles of the OACPS Parliamentary Assembly.

7.2.

Observations - South African Delegation (a) The South African Delegation played a significant role in the Committees and engaged in several debates.
However, more can be done to cement South Africa's position in the African region as it was evident that some African countries often look to South Africa for guidance on several issues.

(b) There is a need for the South African Delegation to consolidate its position on all topics of discussion and for all Members to understand that this is a country's position.

(c) The presence of the South African Embassy in Strasbourg and support to the Delegation were lacking.
(d) In the past, there seemingly was inconsistent participation of the South African Delegation in the OACPS Parliamentary Assembly and its 21 71 Bureau.

This is evident in the Draft Rule 4 which states that “Failing timely confirmation, the session shall be held at any of the places of work of the European Parliament for the European side, and in South Africa or Ethiopia for the OACPS side”, which the South African Delegation was not in agreement with.
This means that this decision to include South Africa as one of the host countries of the JPA was made when in a meeting when the Delegation was not present.

(e) South Africa’s membership in the OACPS remains uncertain as the Executive is still considering whether South Africa should continue its membership or become just an observer.

This influences the South African Parliament’s position in the OACPS.

8.
8.

RECOMMENDATIONS It is recommended that Parliament should: (a) Consider the impact of it hosting the JPA as proposed in the rules with particular focus on the cost implications and other resources required to host the JPA thereafter decide on whether it will be one of the hosts; (b) Engage on the impact and its position on the Executive’s proposal on South Africa becoming an observer rather than a full member of the OACPS hence party to the ACP-EU Agreement.
ADOPTION OF THE REPORT Report adopted by the Delegation at the meeting on ………………………………………………… Signed_________________________________________ Hon.
Mr. S. Mohai, MP and Leader of the Delegation 22 72 (6) Outcomes of the 60 OACPS-EU 73 Briefing Note on the Participation of the South African Parliament in the African, Caribbean, Pacific-European Union Joint Parliamentary Assembly Outcomes The briefing note wishes to appraise the Presiding Officers on the recent participation of the South African Parliament in the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly organized in France, Strasburg from 29th March 3rd April 2022; The South African Parliament delegation led by Hon Seiso Mohai (NCOP Chief Whipe) participated in the session of the Joint Parliamentary Assembly, which discussed urgent motions that relate to the following; • Threats to Peace, Stability, Security and Democracy in Western Africa and the Sahelian Region.
• Enhancing the resilience of small island developing states against climate change and natural disasters • Overcoming the global COVID 19 pandemic: cooperation for economic recovery and investments to achieve Universal Health Coverage.

In addition to the above motions discussed at the JPA, the plenary session dedicated a special session to the topic relating to the ongoing conflict in Russia and Ukraine titled “Russia`s Invasion of Ukraine and its Global Impact”.
This provided countries within the ACP and the European Union an opportunity to express their country position with respect to the ongoing conflict.

South African Parliament delegation also expressed its position with respect to the unfortunate events and call for the promotion of dialogue and mediation through peaceful means.

The delegation further call for the mechanism to be developed to attend to the historical tension between the two countries in conflict.
74 Following the two meetings of the Bureau which expressed a need for the ACP-EU to issue a joint statement to be signed by the Co-Presidents, it emerged that it would be difficult for countries to have a joint statement on this matter given the fact that there is diversity of views on how countries view the current conflict and how it should be resolved.
In the final analysis, a strong view from the African, Caribbean and pacific countries emerged that it should come out that, We all adhere to principles of United Nation Charter , which respects sovereignty and territorial integrity of nations.

We further express concern if the situation takes an expanded geopolitical stature the conflict could expand and affect the region beyond the current coverage.
We firmly support the facilitation on humanitarian assistance to civilians affected by the conflict through mutual understanding of the two parties based on international law.

On this particular instance, a solemn call for the two parties to the crisis to solve the problem amicably and encourage ongoing negotiations for a peaceful resolution.

The Co-Presidents of the ACP-EU were unable to produce and sign a joint statement due to the differing views on the conflict between the two countries.
It became apparent that the European counterparts opted for the approach that solely apportion blame on Russian President as the instigator of war and aggression towards Ukraine.

The majority of countries in the ACP hold the view that there ought to be some respect for the sovereignty of both countries and encourage to resolve the conflict through peaceful means centred on the promotion of dialogue.
Key Outcomes The key outcomes and resolutions were the following; • The JPA voted on the draft resolution and made recommendations for the implementation by the European Union and relevant National Parliaments.
• The JPA Expressed concerns on the devastating war that is taking place between Russia and Ukraine 75 • The JPA Expressed diverse views from different countries on the matter but emphasize the need to resolve the conflict through peaceful means, negotiations that should resolve the tensions between the two countries • The JPA call for countries to ratify the new Post-Cotonou Agreement as soon as it is signed in July 2022 • The JPA adopted the new Rules of Procedure relating to the role of Regional Parliamentary Assemblies in line with the new Post-Post Cotonou Agreement • Given the diversity and country position on Ukraine and Russia Matter, the core Presidents could not produced a signed statement on the matter • The next JPA will take place Southern Africa, Mozambique October 2022.
76 (7) Report of the meeting between the visiting Indonesian Senate delegation and the select committee on Trade and Industry, Economic Development, Employment and Labour, 6 April 2022, Cape Town.

77 CCcc the Select Committee on Trade and Report of the Meeting between the visiting Indonesian Senate delegation Industry, Economic and Development, Small business Development, Employment and Labour held on Wednesday, 06 April 2022 in Parliament 1 78 1.
Purpose of the Report To report on the meeting between the visiting Indonesian Senate delegation and the Select Committee on Trade and Industry, Economic Development, Small business Development, Employment and Labour held on Wednesday, 06 April 2022 in Parliament 2.

Background The Indonesian Consulate in Cape Town initiated the meeting.

3.

Purpose of the meeting The purpose of the meeting was to share experience on Labour Law matters including policies and regulations that govern Trade Unions.
In attendance from the South African side: Mr Mr Mandla Rayi, MP – Chairperson of the Select Committee on Trade and Industry, Economic Development, Small business Development, Employment and Labour; Ms ML Mamaregane, MP.

Ms M Koff and Ms NG Dinizulu (Committee Secretaries).

Mr Z Cawe – International Relations Officer supported the meeting.

In attendance from the Indonesian Senate side: Dr DI Batubara – Vice President of the Regional Representative Council (Senate).
The following Members of the Senate accompanied him namely: Ms EKM Si; Dr JT Murieta; Mr A Siwaithi; Ms H Murib; Mr F Rahmi; Mr B Sitrusimo.

Mr Nawawi –Advisor Labour Affairs of the Regional Representative Council.

Mr G Kusbomo and Mr G Navianto (Committee Secretaries) Mr Mohamad S Parwito – Consul General of Indonesia in Cape Town and Mr Faisel Maulana – Political and Cultural Affairs official were also in aMamarenattendance.

4.
4.

Meeting discussion In his remarks, the Chairperson of the Select Committee, Mr Rayi, MP welcome the delegation in Parliament and apologised only two MPs and staff were meeting the delegation.

He explained that Parliament was in recess period engaged in Constituency Work that week hence they could not attend the meeting.
In his response, Mr Mohamad S Parwito – Consul General of Indonesia in Cape Town expressed appreciation to the Chairperson for availing himself and Ms Mamarenage to meet with the delegation.

He explained the purpose of the visit, which is to share experience with counterpart Committee on matters relating to Labour policy and Trade Unions regulations.

He pointed out that Senators are in a process of amending Indonesian Labour Laws including rights of workers.
They are in the country to explore the implementation of labour laws, policies and regulations because they believe labour laws influence Foreign Direct Investment in a country.
2 79 The Chairperson of the Select Committee, Mr Rayi made a presentation, which touched on various important matters such as the composition and mandate of the Committee, entities overseen by the Select Committee, the Constitution of the RSA of 1996, Labour Relations Act including the requirement for Trade Unions and employers Organisations to be registered under the regulations, among other things.

5.
5.

General outcomes of the meeting The meeting further deliberated and agreed as follows: 1) Labour Laws relates to freedom of association and workers rights.

It is a very sensitive piece of legislation that influences Foreign Direct Investment in a country.

6.

Recommendations and/or Action by Parliament None 3 80 2.
The Minister of Human Settlements (a) Report and Financial Statements of Vote 33 – National Department of Human Settlements for 2021-22, including the Report of the Auditor-General on the Financial Statements and Performance Information of Vote 33 for 2021-22.

COMMITTEE REPORTS National Assembly 81 1.


Report of the Portfolio Committee on Sport, Arts and Culture on a petition received from Mr TW Mhlongo, MP, on behalf of some 31 000 signatories, calling on the Assembly to investigate the commissioning by the Minister of Sport, Arts and Culture of a flag at an estimated cost of R22 million, dated 11 October 2022.
The Portfolio Committee on Sport, Arts and Culture (the Committee) considered the petition of Mr TW Mhlongo, Member of Parliament, on behalf of some 31 000 signatories.

The petition calls on the [National] Assembly to investigate the commissioning by the Minister of Sport, Arts and Culture of a flag at an estimated cost of R22 million.
Having been briefed by the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture (DSAC) and having received input from the Auditor- General of South Africa, the Committee recommends that the petitioner’s request not be granted.

The committee wishes to make the following observations: The national Monumental Flag Project had initially been approved and budgeted for and included in the DSAC Annual Performance Plans for the 2020/21, 2021/22 and 2022/23 financial years, all having been presented to the Committee.
In 2020, the DSAC commissioned a feasibility study on the Monumental Flag.

This study was undertaken during the 2020/21 financial year.

The appointed service provider was paid the full tendered amount of R1 749 150.

The Feasibility Study Report was presented by DSAC to the Technical Working Group on 17 August 2021 and by the Social Protection, Community and Human Development (SPCHD) Cluster on 08 September 2021, where it was approved.
The report was then presented to and approved by Cabinet on 10 February 2020.

The Auditor-General of South Africa (AGSA) tested the procurement process undertaken by the DSAC and found no irregularities.
The capital cost for this construction of the South African Monumental Flag was estimated at R22 million over the medium-term expenditure framework, which included R5 million 1 82 budgeted in 2022/23 for the site-specific geotechnical studies including the Environmental Impact Assessment and other tests and applications that will be required prior to construction; and R17 million allocated for the installation of the flag in 2023/24.
Following the public outcry, the Minister in consultation with the President took a decision to discontinue the project.

The DSAC indicated that it is undertaking appropriate administrative procedures to formalise this decision.

The committee wishes to make the following recommendation: The National Monumental Flag Project, initially approved by Cabinet and presented to Parliament, has been halted by the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture in accordance with the President’s announcement.
Additionally, the AGSA tested the tender process during the 2020/21 audit and did not identify any irregularities or non-compliance in the commissioning of a feasibility study.

In light of this, and noting the objection of the Democratic Alliance, the Committee is of the view that no further investigation is warranted.

Conclusion Having deliberated on the matter, the Committee concluded that the petitioner’s request should not proceed.
Therefore, communication will be made to the Member to relate the decision of the Committee to the signatories.

Report to be considered.

2 83 2.

Report of the Portfolio Committee on Home Affairs on the Electoral Amendment Bill [B1 – 2022] (National Assembly – sec 75)], dated 12 October 2022.
The Portfolio Committee on Home Affairs (“the Committee”), having considered the subject of the Electoral Amendment Bill [B1 – 2022] (National Assembly – sec 75)], referred to it and classified by the Joint Tagging Mechanism as a section 75 Bill, reports the Bill with amendments [B1A – 2022].

The Committee wishes to report as follows: 1.

Context and background 1.1.


On 11 June 2020, in the matter of the New Nation Movement NPC & others v. President of the Republic of South Africa & others [2020] ZACC 11, the Constitutional Court declared the Electoral Act, 1998 (Act No.

73 of 1998) (“the Act”), to be unconstitutional to the extent that it requires that adult citizens may be elected to the National Assembly and provincial legislatures only through their membership of political parties.

1.2.
1.2.

This declaration of unconstitutionality was held to be prospective from 11 June 2020, but its operation was suspended for 24 months to allow Parliament to remedy the defect in the Act giving rise to the unconstitutionality.

As per the Constitutional Court order, the defect was meant to be corrected by 10 June 2022.

1.3.
1.3.

On 10 January 2022, the Minister of Home Affairs introduced into Parliament the Electoral Amendment Bill [B1 – 2022] (“the Bill”), which was referred to the Portfolio Committee on Home Affairs for processing.
The Bill, as introduced, broadly proposes to: • insert certain definitions consequential to the expansion of the Act to include independent candidates as contesters to elections in the National Assembly and provincial legislatures; • provide that registered parties must submit a declaration confirming that all their candidates are registered to vote in the region or province where an election will take place; • provide for the nomination of independent candidates to contest elections in the National Assembly or provincial legislatures; • provide for the requirements and qualifications, which must be met by persons who wish to be registered as independent candidates; • provide the procedure to follow for a non-compliant nomination of an independent candidate; • provide for the inspection of copies of lists of independent candidates and accompanying documents; • provide for objections to independent candidates; • provide for the inclusion of a list of independent candidates entitled to contest elections; • provide that independent candidates are bound by the Electoral Code of Conduct; • provide for the return of a deposit to independent candidates in certain circumstances; • amend Schedule 1; • substitute Schedule 1A; and • provide for matters connected therewith.
84 2.

Parliamentary process 2.1.

2.2 The Electoral Amendment Bill [B1 - 2022] was introduced into Parliament and referred to the Committee through Announcements, Tablings and Committee Reports (ATC) on 10 January 2022.

On 8 February 2022, the Minister of Home Affairs was invited to brief the Committee on the contents of the Bill.

On 21 January 2022, the Bill was published for public comment.

The closing date for such comments was 21 February 2022.

The Committee received 107 written submissions.


On 1 and 2 March 2022, the Committee held virtual public hearings via Zoom.

A total of 13 oral submissions were received from the following individuals and organisations: • One South Africa Movement.

• Africa School of Governance.

• Mr Zolani Zonyani.

• Citizens Parliament.

• Outa.

• COSATU.

• Abatsha Force of Change.

• • • 70s Group.

• New Nation Movement.


• • Council for the Advancement of South African Constitution Independent Candidate Association.

Inclusive Society Institute.

Indigenous First Nation of South Africa.

2.3 The Committee also conducted provincial public hearings in all nine (9) provinces from 7 – 23 March 2022.

A total of 3 483 people attended the public hearings and 610 made oral submissions.
Of the 610 people who made the oral submissions, 389 supported the Bill and 222 rejected the Bill in its current format.

2.4.

Due to the extensive public participation process that the Committee undertook as well as the complexity of the Bill, the Committee foresaw that it was not going to meet the Constitutional Court deadline of 10 June 2022 to finalise the processing of the Bill.
Parliament thus, prior to the expiry of the deadline, approached the Constitutional Court to request an extension period of six (6) months to finalise the Bill.

The Constitutional Court granted an extension until 10 December 2022 to complete the processing of the Bill.

2.5.

In processing the Bill, the Committee invited the Department of Home Affairs (DHA), the Electoral Commission (IEC) and the Parliamentary Legal Service to comment on the report on public participation.
The public participation report formed the basis of the committee deliberation, including comments from the DHA, IEC and the Parliamentary Legal Services.

The Committee deliberated on the Bill on several occasions and held meetings during the constituency period in June, July and October 2022.

85 2.6.
85 2.6.

Following its deliberations, the Committee proposed amendments to other sections of the Electoral Act, 1998, which were not part of the Bill and proposed other material changes to various definitions and clauses in the Bill.

The Committee thus requested permission from the Assembly to extend the scope of the Bill in this regard.

The request was made in terms of National Assembly Rule 286(4)(b) and (4)(c) on 30 August 2022.

The Assembly granted permission to the Committee on 1 September 2022.
On 2 September 2022, the Committee advertised these proposed amendments and called for public submissions by 16 September 2022 (2 weeks).

The re-advertisement was to ensure that members of the public would have a chance to comment only on those proposed material amendments to the Bill.

2.7.

Following this call for comments, a total of 258 submissions were received comprising 254 email submissions and 3 hand delivered submissions.
Of the emails, 231 were short emails via the advocacy group Dear SA (excluding 23 duplicates).

The 13 substantive submissions (emails) comprised over 100 pages of inputs.

The three physically delivered submissions were from “Civil Society” which had a total of 1218 signatures, from “Defend our Democracy” which was supported by 56 Organisations; and from DearSA providing a summary of its emailed submissions.
The Committee had already decided that it would only consider written submissions and there would not be any oral submissions.

The Committee considered all submissions received and deliberated on these on 20 and 27 September 2022 and 4 October 2022.

As a result there were five significant changes informed by these additional submissions and deliberations incorporated into the revised Bill [B1A -2022].

3.
3.

Recommendation The Portfolio Committee on Home Affairs recommends that the House adopts this report and approves the second reading of the Electoral Amendment Bill [B 1 B - 2022].

Report to considered.

86 National Council of Provinces 1.

Report of the Select Committee on Land Reform, Environment, Mineral Resources and Energy on the Sectional Titles Amendment Bill [B31B - 2020] (National Assembly – Section 76), dated 11 October 2022.
The Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development (DALRRD) briefed the committee and all 9 Provincial Legislatures on 03 May 2022 on the Sectional Tittles Amendment Bill [B31B - 2020].

The Bill was initially referred to the committee on 16 November 2021 as a section 75 bill, to be later rectified and refereed to the committee again on 3 May 2022 as a sec 76 Bill.

The Committee called for written comments on the Bill, while public hearings were held by provincial legislatures.
At the end of this engagement process, the negotiating mandate meetings was held by the committee together with provincial legislatures on the 30 August 2022.

The Select Committee on Land Reform, Mineral Resources and Energy, having deliberated on and considered the subject of the Sectional Titles Amendment Bill [B31B - 2020] (National Assembly – sec 76), referred to it and classified by the JTM as a section 76 Bill, reports that it agrees to the Bill [B31B – 2020] without amendments.
Report to be Considered 87 2.

Report of the Select Committee on Land Reform, Environment, Mineral Resources and Energy on the oversight visit to the Northern Cape, dated 11 October 2022 The Select Committee on Land Reform, Environment, Mineral Resources and Energy having conducted oversight in the North Cape, from 15 – 19 August 2022 reports as follows: 1.
Background and Introduction 1.1.The Committee has prioritised oversight over the post-settlement support received by beneficiaries of land reform programmes.

Of particular concern is the economic well-being of communities that has successfully reclaimed land that was rightfully theirs, but do not have the means to develop or sustain viable and sustainable economic activity on this land.
1.2.While the majority of focus lies with the re-distribution of agricultural land and the challenges experienced by Communal Property Associations (CPA’s) in terms of maintaining viable farming ventures, there are also challenges experienced by claimants of non-agricultural land.

In the Northern Cape Province, a number of restitution cases returned land inside or adjacent to National Parks and other under-developed areas to their rightful owners.
Unlike most other later land reform initiatives, the Riemvasmaak community had also chosen to be organised in a Trust rather than a CPA, which affects the way in which some DALRRD aid can be supplied.

The post-settlement support for these communities would therefore have required a different approach to what is typically employed by the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development (DALRRD).
Alternative means for ensuring economic sustainability for the communities settling the land could be required, which in turn, would require the active participation of other Department such as the Department of Fisheries, Forestry and the Environment (DFFE) should the community attempt to become part of the eco-tourism economy.
1 88 1.3.During parliamentary engagements since 1994, and continuing to the present, members of the NA and NCOP had highlighted information coming from their constituencies indicating that the establishment of critical economic development support for the Riemvasmaak communities in the Northern Cape had not materialised as planned.

Some of the restitution cases date back to 1994.


As some of the oldest examples of land reform in the democratic era of South Africa, it is alarming that recipient communities could still be struggling to benefit economically from the land returned to them.
1.4.The committee has already developed a keen understanding of the challenges faced by recipients of developed agricultural land requiring the support of the DALRRD, but has not done any oversight on the outcomes, economic opportunities and challenges experienced by communities that successfully claimed undeveloped conservation land.
While the DALRRD is still responsible for post settlement support of and oversight over the CPAs managing the land, the committee is interested to perform oversight over restituted conservation land in order to determine current land use and potential of economic integration into the conservation and ecotourism economy.

1.5.Economic development and opportunity is also the focus of this inter-action.
In the past, the committee has focused intensively on the development of Social and Labour Plans by mines, as well as how these and other economic development activity from the mining sector was integrated into local government’s Industrial Development Plans (IDP).
1.6.During these oversights, there was little opportunity to engage with local communities, while other oversight destinations was to mining areas where, at the time, the security risk of meeting with dissatisfied mining-affected communities was deemed to be too great.

During the past year, it has come to light that the communities surrounding the Northern Cape mining town Kathu is struggling with the same challenges.
There is little opportunity given to local communities in terms of: Ø Being employed in the mines in any form other than manual labour; Ø Gaining technical training and experience from mines; 2 89 Ø Being able to become a supplier to mines and developing a viable business entity; Having any significant opportunity, before mining is approved, to be informed about the application and its implications, and to be given the opportunity to give inputs on this.
Consultation with communities and consent for mining applications takes place away from affected communities.

1.7.As the dissatisfaction of mining-affected communities is only growing, the committee deems it important to visit such communities and to enter into discussions with such communities in order to determine what the challenges are that they experience, why these communities are pro-actively joining the lobby against mining and what economic benefits, if any, mining has brought to them.
1.8.The committee further wished to engage with those community members that are attempting to establish themselves as small-scale miners.

There is a need to determine whether there is sufficient economic opportunity and government support for such small enterprises to develop and thrive.

1.9.

In order to ensure that Committees are afforded the time and opportunity to do this, the NCOP set aside the week of 15 – 19 August 2022 for oversight activities.

1.10.
1.10.

The delegation consisted of the following members of Parliament, Ms TC Modise (Chairperson, ANC), Mr Z Mkhiva (ANC), Mr AJ Nyambi (ANC), Ms W Ngwenya (ANC), Mr CFB Smit (DA), Mr MA Nhanha (DA), Mr A Arnolds (EFF), Mr FAB Du Bryn (FF+) and Parliamentary support staff, Mr AA Bawa (Committee Secretary), Mr J Jooste (Researcher), and Ms A Zindlani (Committee Assistant).

Augrabies National Park and Riemvasmaak community 1.11.
The aim and objective of the site visit was to focus on the committee’s identified themes of environmental management (DFFE) as well as land reform (post- settlement support services for recipients of land reform).

In terms of the environmental management focus of the committee, it is known that South Africa is challenged to expand the land area under conservation management in order to ensure environmental resilience in the face of climate change and the expansion 3 90 of human activity.
Co-operation with private land-owners (and potential need for co-management and profit-share agreements) is needed for this to become a reality.

1.12.

The Riemvasmaak community land claim settlement is one of the earliest examples of restitution in the country, and it is therefore important to determine what successes and setbacks have been experienced, and whether this knowledge can be applied to land reform practice moving forward.
From past parliamentary oversight and publications, it would appear as if the recipient communities are also plagued by many of the challenges faced by more recent recipients of land reform, but there has been little focus on claimed land that are then managed for tourism/conservation activity.

The land claimed by the community formed part of the Augrabies National Park, and was deproclaimed by Parliament with the express requirement that land use remain conservation/tourism focused.
To date, ,there has been no formal co-management agreement reached with SANParks to incorporate their land into conservation/tourism activities linked to the Augrabies National Park that it borders.

The community has independently initiated some eco-tourism ventures, but it is unclear how successful these have been.

1.13.

Additional to the Riemvasmaak community, the rural communities around Kakamas and Augrabies have also initiated land claims, but the settlements of these claims are delayed.
Some claims are old-order claims (submitted before the 1998 cut-off date), while others were submitted within the second claims window.

The communities were not satisfied with progress on and communication regarding the claims with the DALRRD, and wished to engage on the topic during the committee’s engagement.

Mining affected communities of Kathu 1.14.

The oversight will also focus on the committee’s identified theme of mining impacts.
In this case, the detail of the focus is on impacts of mining activity on surrounding communities, economic opportunities offered by mines in terms of employment and entrepreneurship, and opportunities for small-scale miners to benefit from mining resources in the area.

4 91 1.15.

These focus areas are all important factors in South Africa’s mining sector, where dissatisfied local communities are increasingly growing hostile towards mining activity.
Community organisations and NGO’s are increasingly turning to legal avenues to prevent further mining expansion.

Although this is often dismissed as entitled environmental groups using poorer communities as a cause to further their own agenda, the reality is much more complex.

With little in the form of economic benefit seen by local communities, mining simply becomes another negative form of land use affecting these communities.
Their concerns are genuine and needs to be understood in order to assess how national policy and development focus can be improved in order to ensure that economic benefit from mining is felt by local communities.

Meetings and Site Visits 2.1.

Public Meeting and DMRE Presentation in Khatu 2.1.1 Challenges and constraints highlighted An animated but ultimately peaceful engagement was held with the local community.
It was clear from the engagement that community members were not at all satisfied with their degree of involvement in, or benefit from the mining sector.

The delegation allowed ample time for all those wishing to raise their concerns to speak to the committee.
The following points are a general summary of issues raised during engagement: • CPA inclusion in mining authorisation decisions: Representatives of a CPA from the Lohatla area complained about the disregard for CPA shown by the mining companies operating in the area.

Mining and prospecting applications are not discussed with the community owning the land.

The Department also do not consult sufficiently and rights are allocated without the land use preferences of the CPA taken into account.
Mining companies do not, in return appear to show any employment preference to community members.

• Benefits accrued to the communities: Communities are not experiencing and enjoying the benefits of mining activities and it seems that the benefits are enjoyed by communities and people outside their municipality and Northern Cape 5 92 region.
Communities raised concerns about transport companies from Durban; Cape Town and Johannesburg and other areas operating while the local community is not considered for tenders.

• Community support and Infrastructure development: Mining companies are being given mining licenses and rights that have a lifespan of 30-40 years.

However, communities are yet to see benefit.


Communities are requiring that the mining houses should assist in the building of infrastructure such as schools; clinics; roads and houses due to the huge profits that that mining companies are making from the extraction of minerals in their region.

Areas such as Mapoteng have no high school and their children are struggling to get to school since they have to go to neighbouring areas.
Community members indicated that they do not want hand- outs but want to be presented with opportunities to work with the mining houses.

Community members also indicated that Kumba Iron Ore have built houses for their employees that have all the infrastructure such as road; amenities, parks, school, clinics.

The communities that were relocated for the mine to expand received houses, but none of the other social infrastructure.
The area of re- settlement had 10000 people but the clinic is under-resourced and is unable to cater for the medical needs of the majority of the community members.

• Mining charter/Social and Labour Plan: According to the members of the community, there is no progress concerning the mining charter and non- compliance with the mining charter and economic benefits that should be enjoyed by surrounding areas as set out in the charter.
There is no monitoring and evaluation of the mining charter or implementation of Social and Labour Plans by the DMRE even though licenses were issued by the department.

Community members want the department to monitor and hold the mining houses to account on the promises and objectives of the charter and S&LP and if possible, the department should withdraw the mining licenses of non-compliant mining companies.

Mining houses are not complying with the SLPs after these are signed.
Thus mining companies are not adhering to the projects that are in their SLPs and IDPs of the municipalities, yet mining licenses are renewed.

Community members are accusing the LED manager and mining companies of colluding with contractors that are from Johannesburg and Gauteng where business opportunities related to S&LP implementation are concerned.
The 6 93 DMRE has one S&LP officer who is incapable of conducting inspections of over the 34 mines that are within the JTG municipality, while the DMRE has only one official based in Kimberley to focus on SLP and Small-scale mining.

Community members state that they have written business proposals and plans but that the LED Manager have indicated that it cannot be implemented.
Corruption and nepotism have been cited as been rife in the municipality and that there is collusion between the DMRE officials, mining houses and municipality officials.

Kumba has started a business forum which exclude local businesses and the forum is where business opportunities are provided to people and companies that are from outside the JTG.

Nepotism in prevalent.

The DMRE is not holding the CEO and Kumba to account on everything and non-compliance to the conditions of its mining right/license.
Namaqualand residents requested that the DMRE should provide a list of records of all the SLPs by the mining houses since their inability to comply with the SLPs is due to non-inspection of them by the DMRE officials.

Unemployment: Employment opportunities for community members are hard to come by within the municipality, especially for the youth and women.

Part of the reason for this is that the raw materials from mining are processed in other places and countries.
Products from minerals mined in South African are brought back as finished and final processed products from other countries, which is exacerbating unemployment opportunities.

Community members are requesting government to build smelters for iron ore and manganese to provide opportunities for the production of finished products from minerals mined in the area.
Community members are proposing that mining companies should review hiring policies to accommodate those that have no matric certificate, considering the prevailing circumstances and level of education within the area for certain positions.

• Safety and security: Lack of employment opportunities and the appalling living conditions experienced have resulted in the youth and community members turning to criminal activities and putting the lives of the communities in danger.
The communities suffer theft of property and general lawlessness due to high number of unemployed youths.

Community members are appealing to the department and government in general to ensure that the mining house build 7 94 recreational facilities for the community members and provide opportunities to prevent the lives being in danger.
Small-scale mining: Community members wanted to know about the policy developed by the DMRE that was supposed to benefit Junior Miners and Artisanal and Small-Scale Mining.

The community wanted to know when will it be implemented.

Also, they wanted to know that process of application for mining permits, financial and non-financial assistance would be and what SMMEs opportunities would be created within the broader mining activities.
Another area where community members are proposing government support is in cheaper rail transport.

Road transport costs are very high and it was proposed that government should investigate the possibility of allocating the small-scale miners loading space and capacity on the over 200 trains that are loading iron ore and manganese from JTG to Saldanha Bay and other areas for export opportunities.
• Zama-zamas: According to the community, illegal mining activities are rife, and the department needs to address that before it gets out of hand.

The mining houses must rehabilitate the mines once they are closed to avoid illegal mining to take place as well as future challenges of environmental degradation.

• Environmental degradation: Climate change was cited as a challenge currently and environment has been damaged by mining activities.
The municipality mentioned that dust is a major challenge experienced by the community members in the JTG areas and are concerned about the future damage to be caused by the mining activities.

There are some mining companies that only does bulk sampling after the received the prospective license and the department should monitor the rehabilitation of companies that do bulk sampling as well.
The Community specifically enquired what the procedures and processes were they had to follow when they wish to report cases when the mining houses are not complying with all the requirements of their licenses, relevant Acts and municipality regulations.

Community members complained that blasting that occurs from mining activity of Kumba is negatively affecting their lives, damaging their houses as well as causing constant dust that comes from mining activity.
8 95 • Post mining planning and development: The committee wanted to hear what plans are in place for the JTG municipality regarding sustainable development and economic sustainability of the area after mining companies has closed.

At the current moment, the areas don’t experience any economic benefit from mining activity.

There are no universities that focuses on engineering to take advantage of mining or even technical colleagues to teach and collaborate with mining houses.
In terms of logistics, there are no opportunities for local companies to enter the transportation business.

• Relocation challenges: People that have been moved to Mapoteng and Siyathemba feels neglected and have been treated badly.
In Mapoteng, the municipality does not provide any services to community members, and they raised several issues such as lack of proper housing; high electricity bills; non- provision of services; sewerage running across the streets; lack of infrastructure; no amenities and recreation facilities for their children and no high school in the area.

In addition, electricity services are cut off when community members will be in arrears with only municipal services.
Communities are requesting a 24/7 clinic and for the government to build a hospital in their area.

The Siyathembe community raised concerns about different compensation that were received by community members when they were relocated from Dingleton by Kumba, while other community members were aggrieved about the process and the way it was conducted.

It was stated that there were significant differences in compensation given to different families.
Furthermore, they indicated that a better life that was promised was now turned into a nightmare since they are not enjoying the same benefits they used to while they were in Dingleton.

The infrastructure is inadequate and their family houses were poorly built and are now falling apart.

2.1.2 Engagement with the Municipality While timely communications were sent to the local government of the Gamagara municipality, there was no delegation arranged to meet with the committee.
The committee briefly met with the Mayor of the municipality before the public engagement started.

9 96 2.1.3 Recommendations made 1.

The committee recommends that the DMRE furnish it with the details of all S&LP proposals that were presented by mining companies in the Gamagara municipality and surrounds, together with reports from the DMRE/local authority verifying the existence and completion of these projects before mining licenses were renewed.

2.
2.

That the DALRRD and DMRE are provided with an opportunity to comment about the complaints put forward by the CPA affected by mining activity on its land.

In particular, the departments need to clarify whether all correct avenues of communications were followed when consulting with the CPA after mining/exploration applications were received, and after such rights were awarded.

3.
3.

That the committee communicate its concerns about the lack of economic development and opportunity in the Northern Cape with the Select Committee on Trade & Industry, Economic Development, Small Business, Tourism, Employment & Labour and its NA counterparts.
The committee should further communicate its concerns regarding lack of higher and tertiary education opportunities in the rural municipalities with the Report of the Select Committee on Education, Technology, Sports, Arts and Culture and its NA counterparts.
Lastly, the committee should communicate its concerns regarding the municipal funding model and infrastructure challenges with the Select Committee on Finance as well as the Select committee on Cooperative Governance & Traditional Affairs, Water and Sanitation and Human Settlements and their NA counterparts.

4.

The committee continues to follow up the DMRE regarding its Artisanal and Small-scale mining policy implementation, and interventions planned for the Northern Cape.

5.
5.

That the committee seeks clarity from the DMRE and the Select Committee Cooperative Governance & Traditional Affairs, Water and Sanitation and Human 10 97 Settlements regarding the complaints of Dingleton and Siyathembe residents that were relocated to make way for Kumba Iron Ore mining expansion.

6.

That the committee relays the community’s concerns regarding illegal mining activity and fears of escalation in the region to the DMRE and Select Committee on Security and Justice.

7.
7.

That the department liaise with the DFFE in order to furnish to Kathu communitee representatives with the requested information regarding legislation and regulations applicable to environmental management of mining activity, inclusive of the process of reporting concerns about breaches of mine EMPs.

2.1.4 Issues raised by the Parliamentary Delegation The committee noted that it is not the first time that most of the matters raised by the Kathu communities have been captured.
Indeed, it would appear to be a blueprint of concerns of mining-affected communities across South Africa.

During presentations to the Select Committee by the DMRE Executive, the manner in which mining revenue is used by the National Treasury had been defended.

It was stated that the mineral wealth of South Africa is a national asset, and as such, should be shared equally across all provinces and for all budget allocations.
It remains a glaring fact, however, that rural provinces that bear the brunt of the negative impacts of mining and significantly under-funded in terms of infrastructure development, public facilities, and the provision of basic services.

When the lack of economic opportunity, linked to the poor state of infrastructure development, is added into the equation, it is almost impossible for the communities concerned not to suffer the outcomes observed by the Select Committee.
Poor education opportunities lead to low skill levels.

Insufficient schooling, transport and employment opportunities lead to frustrated, unemployed youth, high crime rate and social-economic challenges, and migration away from these areas in search of better opportunities.

According to the latest figures released by Statistics South Africa, Youth in South Africa continue to be disadvantaged in the labour market with an unemployment rate higher than the national average.
The Quarterly Labour Force Survey (QLFS) for the first quarter of 11 98 2022, indicated an unemployment rate of 63,9% for those aged 15-24 and 42,1% for those aged 25-34 years.

Graduate unemployment rates remain lower compared to those of other educational levels.

The unemployment rate among young graduates (aged 15-24 years) declined from 40,3% to 32,6% between 2021 and 2022.
In a recently published study that tracked the employment status of rural and urban individuals over time, it was revealed that the number of unemployed rural individuals were twice as high as their urban counterparts.
Under these conditions, the following conclusions have to be made regarding the observations made not only in Kathu but also in Kakamas and Augrabies: • Where government investment in rural municipalities is insufficient, communities have little chance of receiving an education that results in them receiving in- demand skills; Low economic opportunities persist in municipalities with chronic infrastructure challenges.
The reduced employment opportunities lead to communities focusing on the largest employer in the municipality, such as the public sector, mining or agriculture, with a mix of employment expectation and suspicion.

Those unable to find employment are at risk of growing resentful towards the employed as well as the industry.
• Poor representation in these rural centres by departments such as the DMRE likely contributes to the possibility of mis-communication with communities, as well as inadequate oversight over industry such as mining.

There is a real risk of the type of contraventions highlighted by the community taking place, with DMRE staff spread thin over regional centres.
• Regardless of all the challenges highlighted by the community, such as failure to support S&LP commitments, broken relocations promises and damage to economic infrastructure, mining companies cannot be treated as the source of all investment in rural economies.

The type of S&LP projects communities are seeking, should actually be provided by government.

It is incorrect to seek the development of schools, parks, clinics and recreational facilities solely from the private sector.
While better targeted S&LP linked to the municipal LED can be 12 99 requested, the responsibility for rural development and upliftment lies first and foremost with government.

2.2.

Public Meeting and DARDLR in Augrabies 2.2.1 Challenges and constraints highlighted The Committee travelled to the settlement of Augrabies in order to meet with communities that have benefitted from settled land claims, as well as those communities that are still awaiting the finalisation of their claims.
The committee had hoped to engage a particular community, the Riemvasmaak group, as their land claims differs significantly from the experience that the committee has with settled claims on agricultural land.

This community had received a portion of a national park as part of their settlement.

As a condition of the de-proclamation of the section of Augrabies National Park claimed by the community, Parliament stipulated that the land could only be used for conservation and tourism-related activity.
Early in the process of land reform, the DALRRD did not have resources dedicated to post-settlement support, while later assistance was heavily skewed towards commercial agriculture.

The committee was interested to determine what post settlement support the community has received.
The committee noted with regret that no representative of the Riemvasmaak community was present at the engagement; prompting discussions with South African National Parks regarding support given to the Riemvasmaak community after the public engagement was complete.

The engagement with the Augrabies community, as well as representatives from a number of claimant groups from Kakamas was very productive.
The engagement included representatives from the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development, who were able to provide responses to questions raised by the community representatives.

A significant portion of the concerns expressed was related to the claims were submitted in the period 2014 to 2016.

The most common challenge was with poor communication between the Department and claimants.
The Department clarified that the claims were still considered valid, but will not be processed until the Department complies with the 13 100 court ruling that stipulated that old order claims have to be finalised and/or the relevant Bill (Restitution of Land Rights Act) amended before new claims can be considered.

Community members wanted to know how long it was going to take before an amended Restitution of Land Rights Bill will be processed by parliament.
Concerns were raised that many of the original claimants have since passed away, while other community members were worried that a lack of communication between claimants and the Department could indicate that claims will be lost in the interim.
Claims committees selected by claimants to represent their case also expressed their concern about the fact that information regarding the fate of their claims are not clearly communicated, causing conflict with other claimants who feel that their claim is being mismanaged.

Community members further highlighted concerns about claimant lists.
For both old order and new claims, speakers highlighted that they are not in possession of claimant lists and can therefore not verify whether they or on the list, and check if people not entitled to the claim has been added to the list.

The Department clarified that with new order claims, only the individuals that submitted claims, and not the entire group of claimants, will receive periodic updates on the status of claims.
The processing and finalisation of old order claims demanded far greater engagement with the entire claimant group, which is also one of the causes for delays in the finalisation of these claims.

In reply to the Department’s clarification on the fate of old order claims lodged before 1998 and new claims, community members reminded the department that there was still claims from 1998 that were outstanding.
The Department responded by providing the details of all outstanding old order claims in the Northern Cape, as well as the status of these outstanding claims.

The Department further outlined the steps that need to be taken in order to trace all claimant families and reach a unanimous decision as to the type of settlement that would be accepted.

The representatives of the Maremane claimant group, who was also present at the Kathu engagement, attended this meeting as well.
The grievances listed at the meeting was the same as in Kathu, with the representative stating that he has not received satisfactory feedback from the DMRE at the meeting.

The concerns revolve around the permission that mining companies received to mine on CPA land (deeds not transferred) without due 14 101 consultation with the CPA.

Recommendations were made in this report regarding the need for the matter to be addressed (section dealing with the Kathu public meeting).
An additional concern raised by the group, which is directed at the DALRRD, revolved around the continued destabilisation of the Maremane CPA by former claimants that accepted financial compensation at the time of settlement.

The representative insisted that the matter be finalised and a full list of beneficiaries who are members of the CPA be furnished to them without delay.
A unique dimension to the land reform focus of the Augrabies community was the fact that many have reverted to post-2014 land claims in a desperate bid to resolve challenges associated with township development.

The original settlement, referred to as “the island” is surrounded by farmland.

There are no options for expansion and the community is desperate for land to expand the settlement.

Additionally, the community had highlighted a lack of healthcare and education facilities in the settlement.
A final concern raised by a number of speakers was that many claims have underlying challenges related to the beneficiary list that is supposed to accompany the claims.

Many of the original claimants have passed away, while in other cases, there is confusion as to whether specific individuals for part of the recipients or not.

The Department was requested to assist claimants in a more transparent way by providing detailed lists of all the beneficiaries linked to each claim.
2.2.2 Engagement with the Municipality While the day’s engagements did not include local government representation, the invitation of stakeholders to the event, as well as catering for the community was undertaken by the Kai !Garib local authority.

A brief introduction with the major and her executive was undertaken before the meeting started.
The committee expressed their appreciation to the representatives of the municipality who facilitated the meeting, and the community for the orderly manner in which the engagement was conducted.
2.2.3 Recommendations made 1 The committee resolved to continue discussions with the DALRRD, the DFFE, SANParks as well as the Riemvasmaak community in order to get a clear picture of 15 102 the nature of government support provided to the community in pursuit of rural development needs as well as in achieving the requirements of the parliamentary conditions of de-commission.

2 The committee resolved to support the community members in finding clarity needed on claims submitted.
The committee further expressed its dissatisfaction with the fact that the Department only had regional representation, some distance away from affected communities, and did not perform any outreach to these towns and settlements to assist communities with claims.
The committee proposed to the Department that their regional offices are too far away from claimant communities such as residents of Kakamas and Augrabies, and that the Department should facilitate better engagement with the community through regular visits to claimants rather that to indicate to them where the regional offices are located.

3 The Committee notes the frustration of the Augrabies community related to the lack of opportunity to expand the settlement, and the lack of social services.
The committee is of the opinion that the land reform process may not be the ideal avenue through which to address these challenges, and resolves to communicate the community’s concerns to the Select Committee on Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Water and Sanitation and Human Settlements for consideration.
4 The committee acknowledge the request of the representative of the Maremane CPA to assist in the clarification of the CPA’s list of members, and to find a solution to the illegal occupation of CPA land by claimants that accepted financial settlements in the past, should this challenge be confirmed by the DALRRD.
5 The committee notes with concern that the Department did not clarify the impact of the Constitutional Court ruling on the settlements of old-order claims and the revised Restitution of Land Rights Bill (B 19B—2017) on the processing of claims lodged after 2014.

The fate of claims submitted after 2014 is very clear and should be explained to all concerned claimants.
2.2.4 Issues raised by the Parliamentary Delegation 16 103 The Restitution of Land Rights Bill in its current configuration (2017 version, post Constitutional Court Ruling) clearly stipulates that upon the finalisation or referral in terms of section 14 to the Court of all claims lodged on or before 31 December 1998, the Chief Land Claims Commissioner shall certify in writing that such claims have been finalised or referred to the Court, and shall publish a notice in the Gazette and in the media circulating nationally and in the province, stating the date • on which the Commission shall start processing claims lodged— • • (a) from 1 July 2014 until 28 July 2016; and (b) in terms of the Restitution of Land Rights Amendment Act, 2018.
While the Bill allows for exceptions to allow the processing of post-2014 claims together with 1998 claims under specific circumstances, these conditions are rare and typically involves overlap with pre-1998 claims.

The fact therefore remains that even if the Bill is passed in its amended form, it is unlikely that any of the claims discussed in the meeting will be processed soon.
With or without the processing of the amended Bill, claims submitted before 1998 has to be processed first as per the Constitutional Court ruling.

The Department is aware of this and should be communicating honestly with the communities of Kakamas and Augrabies.

In a written response dated 28 June 2022, Minister T. Didiza said the Land Claims Commission has a total of 6 685 outstanding claims dating from the 1988 deadline.
The commission had in the 2020-21 financial year settled only 17 claims involving 230 claimants.

There are over 160 000 new order claims submitted after 2014.

2.3.

Local Government Meeting in Upington 2.3.1 Challenges and constraints highlighted As expected, the scale of the municipality was one of the main constraints that impacts service delivery.

Many communities, such as Rietfontein, could be up to 280 km from the main urban hub of the municipality.
Wards are enormous, requiring a significant amount of travelling by ward councillors and municipal officials to reach all community members.

The municipal sources of income is limited.

Main sources of income is the sale of electricity, grant allocations and rates.

Large parts of the municipality has low 17 104 population density, resulting in limited income from selling electricity and municipal rates.
A large portion of the municipalities’ residents is indigent or unemployed, which requires the provision of basic services but yields limited income.

A significant challenge experienced by the municipality is the fact that it was merged with the Mier local municipality without transferring Mier’s grant funding to the amalgamated municipality.

Mier is a rural population that is sparsely populated, thus it generates very little income, but requires great distances to be covered in order to provide services.
This leaves Dawid Kruiper municipality with the responsibilities and expenditure of Mier municipality but none of its government funding.

Financial challenges that result has forced the municipality to approach banks for loans to perform critical infrastructure maintenance, such as the repair of roads.

Even without this challenge, the municipality is hardly able to meet its financial l obligations through grant funding and the sale of electricity/rates.
Whenever electricity pricing increases, the electricity usage from residents drop as many are poor/unemployed and cannot afford the constant increases.

The main underlying cause for this financial situation is the manner in which equitable share is calculated.

The current allocation is simply too little to sustain service provision where unemployment is rising and income from selling of electricity is dropping.
The situation is made worse by large numbers of migrants from other areas of the province/country relocating to the municipality in search of work.

The challenges associated with this inward migration is twofold.

First, the waste water and electricity supply network is being pushed beyond capacity, resulting in system malfunction, and second, the number of indigent families qualifying for free basic services increase.
Without the unemployment challenge being addressed at provincial level, the municipality will continue to struggle with the provision of basic services.

A final general concern raised was service provision challenges related to agriculture.

On the one hand, the migration of seasonal workers into the municipality at certain times of the year creates sporadic spikes in service requirements.
The second concern raised was that many farm workers have lost their jobs/accommodation on farms, and then need RDP housing.

The municipality has little expansion capacity.
Solid waste removal 18 105 In terms of challenges experienced by the municipality, the municipality highlighted general problems, which included: • Challenges with containing illegal dumping in informal settlements; • Challenges in replacing ageing waste collection vehicles; • Challenges in some areas with the theft of or vandalising of fences that surround waste disposal sites; • Budget shortfalls; • Logistic challenges, in particular, the large distances that municipal vehicles have to cover to provide services; • Human resources are hard to obtain as it is difficult to attract skilled professionals to the municipality; and • Ageing infrastructure.
DFFE feedback In response to the municipal presentation, the Department provided feedback focusing on the following inputs: • The department has a nationally funded programme to assist municipalities with the replacement of yellow fleet waste removal vehicles; • The department can also support municipalities with MIG arrangements with Treasury and COGTA in order to motivate for the replacement of waste removal vehicles; • The department highlighted that they actively engage with municipalities through an awareness campaign to ensure that the municipalities use the waste collection grant that is available to local government; • The department is actively trying to reduce the volume of solid waste reaching landfills through the extended producer responsibility, that makes producers responsible for the entire life cycle of the products that they introduce on the market, from their design until end of life; • A value is assigned to specific items to attempt to reduce it reaching landfill sites, while informal waste pickers are supported to formalise waste sorting activity; 19 106 Electrification and energy supply The municipality informed the department of the current challenges experienced in terms of electricity supply and the electrification of households within its borders.
The main issues to be summarised from the interaction is the following: • The municipality is able to provide a large percentage of households with electricity, but those communities that cannot be linked to the national grid current have no immediate alternative electricity source.
A section of the Mier area was connected to a line coming from Namibia in the past but as this line reached capacity, the supply was cut off; • Revenue from the sale of electricity is decreasing due to the price increases forcing poorer households to use less electricity, and the high level of unemployment within the municipality; • The municipality is trying to be more pro-active regarding electricity supply and management, but are experiencing some challenges with the implementation of existing plans.
The municipality is currently unable to implement a planned shift towards the use of smart metring since Treasury has indicated that it wishes to implement a national rollout of such an initiative.

The municipality had developed a master plan for the inclusion of renewable energy into its energy procurement mix three years ago.

A site for a potential plant has been identified, but no development could be achieved to date.
It is worth noting that the Northern Cape, including the Dawid Kruiper municipality, plays host to the largest number of solar energy developments in the country.

All these plants, however, feed into the national grid and does not have any procurement deal with the hosting municipality; • Outlying areas purchasing power from ESKOM directly are challenged with the way ESKOM handles payment that is in arrears.
The municipality, however, itself does not owe ESKOM any money; • The renewable energy projects within the municipality is being projected as an employment and skills development opportunity, but this is not the case.

20 107 Developers have their own skilled labour, and only employ local people in labourer positions.
This does not provide sustainable jobs, industrial development or technology/skills transfer; • Greater assistance from ESKOM is needed in order to assist the municipality with the supply of local capacity needs.

2.3.2 Engagement with the Municipality The committee delegation was welcomed by the mayor, who apologised for being delayed as a result of the visit of the province’s Premier that overlapped with the committee’s oversight.
The municipality was requested to provide a presentation to the committee outlining the challenges they experience with the provision of waste removal and electrification services.

As this is the largest local municipality in the country, and is characterised by thinly spread communities, the committee was eager to learn about challenges experienced in order to determine how the municipality could be assisted.
The municipal officials responsible for the two portfolios were introduced, and provided an overview of the municipal services offered to the community.

The overviews provided were detailed in terms of service provision, but the officials did not provide sufficient details on the challenges experience, which prompted the delegation to request that the officials elaborate on the challenges that they face honestly.
They were assured that the NCOP does not perform oversight over local authorities, but engage with them in order to determine what assistance is needed.

At this point, the officials, with inputs from the Departmental officials present, elaborated in detail about service delivery challenges experienced by the municipality.

Discussions about waste removal was still brief, and included some references to sewerage management, which falls outside the oversight role of the committee.
Far more serious and numerous challenges related to electrification were experienced, and these were relayed to the committee.

The challenges with electrification responsibility are very closely linked to the municipal funding model and percentage of equitable share that is 21 108 allocated to the provincial and local authority.

This was a repeated theme that emerged during oversight.
2.3.3 Recommendations made 1 The committee resolves to liaise with the municipality, DFFE and Treasury in order to ensure that all forms of grant support available to municipalities to upgrade its solid waste removal fleet is made available and accessed by the municipality.
2 The committee further recommends that during its engagements with the relevant parliamentary committees, Cogta and Treasury regarding the challenges the municipality is facing in terms of revenue and grant income, that the challenges communicated by the municipality in terms of solid waste management is relayed to the responsible entities.
3 The committee recommends that during its engagements with the relevant parliamentary committees, Cogta and Treasury regarding the challenges the municipality is facing in terms of revenue and grant income, that the challenges communicated by the municipality in terms of the supply of electricity and upgrading of electricity infrastructure is relayed to the responsible entities.
4 The committee resolves to engage the DMRE regarding employment and skills transfer opportunities related to renewable energy projects under construction in the province, with the aim of relaying the municipalities concerns regarding the lack of permanent employment opportunities and skills transfer created by these projects.
5 Finally, the committee resolves to communicate with and continue to engage the DMRE and Treasury related to the need for smaller rural municipalities in good standing with ESKOM to be assisted with the procurement of alternative energy supply, particularly in cases where connection to ESKOM’s electricity grid is not possible.
To this end, the committee further resolve to engage the DMRE regarding the wealth of renewable energy projects in the Dawid Kruiper municipality, and opportunities for municipalities to procure additional electricity capacity directly from such projects.

how these and other economic development activity from the mining se 22 109 The committee expressed its appreciation to the municipal officials for the detailed breakdown of challenges and opportunities related to the delivery of services.
The committee expressed its concern over the underlying socio-economic challenges faced by the municipality, resolving to address these with the relevant departments and parliamentary committees.

3.

Summary of observations during oversight The committee embarked on the oversight visit with the expectation of making observations and recommendations related to the narrow focus topics selected during the planning of the week.
What transpired, however, was the observation of major underlying challenges stemming from national policy and the current economic climate working together to create significant challenges for the local governments visited.

The observations and recommendations made by the committee regarding specific local government/departmental competencies were listed in detail at the end of each visit report.
In terms of opportunities for involvement in the mining sector, observations mirror the challenges observed in other provinces.

The mining sector remains largely closed for local entrepreneurs, while there are no opportunities for local residents to be skilled and become employable in specialised mining professions.

Communication between the department, mining companies and local communities remain a challenge, with a large degree of mistrust expressed during the meeting.
There is doubt about the impact of Social and Labour plans at community level, and allegations that mining licenses are renewed without due oversight over the impact and completion of S&LP.

The relocation of communities to make way for mining expansion was highlighted as a concern, as was the negative impact of mining on mining affected communities.
A major underlying theme that has been flagged as a challenge during past oversight visits to other provinces was the significant expectation of mining companies by local communities of investment in infrastructure and social services.

These extend past the requirements of S&LP commitments, and overlap with the responsibilities of government.
It has to be emphasized once again that while mining companies should be better held accountable for the implementation of S&LP commitments, the industry 23 110 cannot be expected to provide services and infrastructure that is the responsibility of government.

In terms of land reform, the immediate matters to follow up on for the community is the details required regarding support offered to the Riemvasmaak community.

The community representatives could not attend the meeting.
The second issue that is of great concern is the lack of communication from the department regarding the fate of claims submitted after 2014, as well as the inaccessibility of departmental offices to outlying communities.

Many of these are critical to resolve and require interaction between the committee and the department it oversees.
It is necessary, however, to highlight the bigger picture of observations made during oversight, which will require of the committee to liaise with other committees and state entities that does not fall under its oversight responsibility.

The local municipalities visited were well maintained overall, within the constrains of budget and capacity.
The committee was impressed with the overall management of these municipalities, but were well aware that the economic well-being of the municipalities was not guaranteed.

The reality of the current economic challenges, large-scale migration into areas of mining and agriculture, lack of space for housing expansion, large-scale unemployment and the sheer scale of municipalities are pushing these municipalities to the brink.
The situation underlines the challenges that Local Government Week interactions between the NCOP and SALGA has highlighted on numerous occasions.

Revenue from rates and the sale of electricity is shrinking, while the manner in which equitable share is calculated negatively affects local government.

Of particular concern is the observation of the incorporation of the Mier municipality into Dawid Kruiper municipality without the transfer of the former municipality’s equitable share allocation.
This situation cannot remain unaddressed, as it is impossible for a municipality of this size to deliver services to all citizens with a reduced budget.

Distances that have to be travelled, the number of unemployed individuals and indigent households, influx of jobseekers and cost of doing business is especially acute in terms of electricity provision.

The municipality is in good standing with ESKOM, and there are a wealth of renewable energy projects in the municipal district.
There is an urgent need to investigate the options for the municipality in terms of the procurement of alternative 24 111 sources of electricity in order to contain the cost of electricity procurement as well as the ability to provide services to outlying communities that cannot be connected to the national grid.

Report to be considered.

25 112 3.


REPORT OF THE SELECT COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS ON THE EXPENDITURE AND PERFORMANCE OF THE EARLY CHILDHOOD DEVELOPMENT GRANT AS AT THE END OF THE FOURTH QUARTER OF THE 2021/22 FINANCIAL YEAR; DATED 12 OCTOBER 2022 1.

Background Section 4(a), (d) and (e) of the Money Bills and Related Matters Act No.
09 of 2009 (as amended in 2018), mandates the Committee to consider and report on spending issues; reports on statements of actual expenditure published by the National Treasury; and any other related matter set out in the Act.

These provisions, read together with section 32 of the Public Finance Management Act No.

01 of 1999 (as amended), and section 16 of the Division of Revenue Act No.

05 of 2022, provide the framework for the legislative sector to play an oversight role over the Executive.
Against this background, the Committee undertook to assess the implementation, performance and expenditure of the Early Childhood Development (ECD) Grant as at the end of the fourth quarter of the 2021/22 financial year.
The purpose of the ECD Grant is to increase the number of poor children accessing subsidised ECD Grant services through centre and non-centre based programmes; to support early childhood development providers delivering an ECD programme to meet basic health and safety requirements for registration; and to pilot the construction of new low-cost ECD centres.

2.
2.

Terms of reference The Committee resolved to conduct a hearing on the expenditure and service delivery performance of this Grant on 07 September 2022.
Since the period under review was the last for the Grant to be managed by the Department of Social Development, before it was transferred to the Department of Basic Education with effect from 1 April 2022, the Committee invited the Department of Social Development to report on the financial and non-financial performance as at the end of the fourth quarter of the 2021/22 financial year.
In addition, National Treasury was invited to provide a consolidated report on this Grant covering the period under review.

1 113 3.

Grant outputs The Grant has two components with detailed outputs, conditions and responsibilities for each, specified in separate frameworks.
The two Grant components are - • Infrastructure: Number of ECD centres assessed for infrastructure support and health and safety standards; number of ECD centres whose registration status improved as a result of the infrastructure component within 24 months of receiving the Grant; and number of low-cost ECD centres constructed; and • Subsidy: Number of eligible children subsidised, as agreed in the service level agreements; number of children attending ECD services in fully registered centres; number of children attending ECD services in conditionally registered centres; number of children subsidised in fully registered centres; number of children subsidised in conditionally registered centres; number of days subsidised for centre-based programmes; number of children benefiting in registered non-centre based ECD programmes; number of children benefiting from the top-up grant; and number of ECD practitioners and other staff employed in the registered ECD centres benefiting from the conditional Grant.
3.

National Treasury National Treasury submitted that, in the 2021/22 financial year, the Grant had been allocated R1 billion plus a stimulus package allocation of R178 million and a sum of R385.6 million approved roll-over funds.

This resulted in a total budget of R1.6 billion.

Of this amount, provinces had spent R1.18 billion and failed to spend R416 million.

Of the unspent amount, R201 million had been approved as roll-over funds.
The rest of the money, R214.6 million, had been surrendered back to the National Revenue Fund.

The Eastern Cape had surrendered R36.3 million; the Free State R15.5 million; Gauteng R40.9 million; KwaZulu-Natal R43.4 million; Limpopo R5.7 million; Mpumalanga R3.1 million; the Northern Cape R14.1 million; and the North West R55.2 million.

Table 1 below provides a breakdown of the total allocation per province.

Table 1: ECD Grant allocation in the 2021/22 Financial Year.
Provinces 2021/22 FY Budget 2021/22 ECD Stimulus Funds R’000 Roll-over funds R’000 R’000 Total Budget per Province R’000 2 114 Eastern Cape Free State Gauteng KwaZulu-Natal Limpopo Mpumalanga Northern Cape North West Western Cape Total In terms of non-financial performance, National Treasury reported that the ECD Grant had performed fairly well.
However, the following challenges had been experienced: • Verification of beneficiaries for the Presidential Employment initiative had not been completed.

Many had not been finalised because of outstanding information not being provided by the end of the financial year.

• With regard to maintenance there had been delays in the procurement process; slow delivery by implementing agents and municipal delays in securing land for construction of new centres.
• Late submission of claims by non-profit organisations (NPOs) had caused a delay in transfers.

5.

Department of Social Development The Department of Social Development (DSD) reported that the key conditions of the Grant were centred around providing subsidy through assisting registered ECD centres not fully funded from the provincial equitable share; fully and conditionally registered centres that were not funded; and registered non-centre based ECD programmes that were not funded.
The subsidy targeted qualifying children from birth to five years or until they start Grade R. The DSD added that the subsidy was paid at a rate of R17 per child for a maximum period of 264 days.

The value of the subsidy for non-centres based programmes was R6 per child for the number of sessions conducted.

The DSD submitted that partial care facilities offering ECD programmes, that were unregistered or registered conditionally, would be eligible for the maintenance component of the Grant.
Moreover, minor building and maintenance improvements aimed at ensuring ECD centres complied with health and safety norms and standards, as identified by the DSD, were also funded.

Provinces were required to conduct assessments of conditionally registered centres 3 115 and cost them in order to qualify for maintenance funding from the Grant in the 2022/23 financial year.

Lastly, all maintenance projects must be recorded on the National Treasury’s Infrastructure Reporting Model (IRM).
The DSD reported that ECD service providers that were fully or conditionally registered with their provincial social development departments to provide ECD services, as well as unregistered ECD services that provided learning, were eligible to benefit from the ECD stimulus relief fund.

This included ECD centres as well as non-centre-based services, like play grounds; toy libraries; child minders; and mobile ECD services.
The DSD further clarified that an ECD service did not have to be registered as an NPO to receive this benefit; and that organisations that run, manage or oversee multiple centres and/or non-centre based ECD services, may apply for more than one programme and more than one type of programme.
If an organisation did not directly employ the staff in the centre or non-centre based ECD service, but provided an oversight and support role, a written and signed agreement, governing the relationship with that programme and setting out respective roles and responsibilities, must have been in place prior to 1 March 2020.

5.1 Performance on infrastructure component The DSD reported that, in 2021/22, 195 ECD centres had benefited from the Grant, against a target of 273.
Limpopo and the Western Cape had achieved 50; Free State 27; Mpumalanga 25; KwaZulu-Natal 14; Gauteng 12; the Eastern Cape eight; and the Northern Cape and North West four each.

The reasons for under-expenditure on this component were reportedly the following: • Eastern Cape: A low-cost ECD centre could not be constructed, as the earmarked land belonged to the traditional authority and had to be transferred to the NPO.
The issue had been resolved later in the 2021/22 financial year and the DBE, who had taken over the responsibility to proceed with construction, planned to complete it within the 2022/23 financial year.

• Free State: Following a delay in the appointment of an implementing agent (IA), there had been challenges between the Department of Social Development and the Department of Public Works and Infrastructure.
As a result, the Province did not acquire the Permission to Occupy from the Municipality for the identified site.

The DBE, who would 4 116 continue and implement the project in-house, was busy with the Bill of Quantities and outstanding engineering drawings as well as with other projects that had not been implemented in the 2021/22 financial year.

• Gauteng: Some of the targeted ECD centres had closed down and it had been too late to replace them.
To date, there had been no work done, as the replacement list had not been received yet.

• KwaZulu-Natal: There had been challenges with the IA relating to delays in procurement of service providers.

The project manager had left and appointing a replacement had resulted in further delays.

The expenditure recorded was 100 percent, as funds had been transferred to the IA to enable it to procure materials and pay contractors, as agreed during the first quarter.
All backlog projects would be implemented by the DBE.

• Limpopo: Construction of a low-cost ECD centre was still underway and the contractor not yet paid.

The IA, the Department of Public Works and Infrastructure, had only appointed the service provider in February 2022; and the project was 60 percent completed at the time of reporting.

• Mpumalanga: The low-cost ECD and other centres had not been completed and the Province had made sectional payments to contractors.
The IA, the Department of Public Works and Infrastructure, had only appointed contractors in February 2022.

Projects were now at 99 percent completion, but contractors had not yet been paid because of the transfer of the funds to the DBE.

• Northern Cape: The procurement process had taken long to complete; as suitable contractors could initially not be found.
By the time the Province had found contractors (upon the third attempt), the Supply Chain Management had already issued an instruction that projects be stopped by the first week of February 2022, due to the transfer of the function to the DBE.

Those projects, together with the current financial year projects, were still on hold at the time of reporting.

• North West: The procurement process had been delayed, as the received quotations had exceeded the available budget.
By the time the Province had received more quotations after a second briefing, it had already been too late to appoint service providers/contractors.

The backlog would be dealt with by the DBE during the 2022/23 financial year.

• Western Cape: The Province had not been able to disburse all funds before the end of the financial year, but had processed all payments by the time of reporting.
5 117 The DSD reported that certain initiatives had been put in place to assist provinces to mitigate the above reasons for under-performance.

Capacity-building interventions included provision to employ qualified built environment technical staff; developing guidelines for provinces to implement infrastructure delivery; and involving other ECD partners to provide advisory services.
In addition, a procurement strategy had been developed to address procurement challenges and improve the way provinces appointed contractors to manage projects; uniform low-cost ECD centre designs had been developed; and quarterly site visits and meetings to monitor project implementation and expenditure had been held.
5.2 Performance on subsidy component The DSD reported that, against a target of 72 388, only 62 907 children had benefited from the subsidy component of the Grant for the required 264 days in 2021/22.

The reasons for the under-performance on this component was reportedly the late signing of service level agreements (SLAs), which affected quarterly payments, especially in the North West; and non- compliance by non-profit organisations (NPOs) with regard to submission of reports and compliance documents.
The DSD indicated that it had supported provinces through different structures that had been developed, including quarterly conditional grant and coordinators meetings; while senior management structures had been used as consultation platforms and for elevation of challenges and decision making.

In addition, the Project Manager had engaged with struggling provinces individually to ensure better understanding of the frame working and reporting.
5.3 Performance on Stimulus Package The DSD reported that the Presidential Employment Stimulus fund of R474.3 million had been made available to the employees of ECD services in the 2020/21 financial year and the project administered by the DSD until 31 March 2022.

The Department further reported that it had received applications for a total of 113 620 staff members, of which 109 801 practitioners were found to be eligible for the Grant; however, were yet to be verified for payment.
Of the eligible staff, 58 590 had been paid by 31 March 2022, with payment to 48 105 still outstanding.

5.4 Support to provinces With regard to the support it had provided to provinces, the DSD reported the following: 6 118 • NPOs had been contracted through a partnership with the DG Murray Trust to assist ECD organisations to complete the applications.
• Capacity building and information sessions had been held with provinces on the implementation and processes for the stimulus package by the DSD and partners, such as the Nelson Mandela Foundation.

• Different structures had been established with all provinces as a platform to support provinces and meetings were held weekly.

• Provinces had been assisted and supported during the establishment of help desks at provincial and district levels to enable ECDs to obtain assistance.
• SMS’s had been sent to advise ECDs on their applications and any outstanding information.

• Reporting and monitoring tools had been developed to promote standardisation across the provinces.

With regard to the next steps with the stimulus package, the DSD reported that National Treasury had already made recommendations to provincial treasuries on roll-over funds.
Once allocation letters were issued, it would assist the DBE in the processing of the payment to eligible ECD practitioners through application and payment verification; ECD site verification; and ECD guidelines set by the social development sector.

Payments to all eligible ECD practitioners would reportedly be finalised by 31 March 2023 by DBE.
5.5 Migration of function to Department of Basic Education The DSD reported that a Cabinet memorandum on the shift of the ECD function from the DSD to the DBE had served in Cabinet in March 2022; and on 1 April 2022, the Minister of Social Development had officially handed over the function to the Minister of Basic Education.
This meant that the management and implementation of the Grant was now the responsibility of the DBE and also marked a partnership between the DBE and other government departments, NGOs, civil society partners and other entities to ensure that all children, including those with disabilities, were provided with access to quality ECD services.

6.
6.

Findings and observations 6.1 The Committee welcomed the main objectives of the Grant, namely to increase the number of poor children accessing subsidised ECD services through centre and non-centre based 7 119 programmes; to support ECD service providers to meet basic health and safety requirements for registration; and to pilot the construction of new low-cost ECD centres.
6.2 The Committee noted that the Grant had been allocated R1 billion plus a stimulus package allocation of R178 million and a sum of R385.6 million approved roll-over funds for the 2021/22 financial year, totalling R1.6 billion.

Of the total amount, provinces had only spent R1.18 billion, under-spending by R416 million.
The Committee was concerned over the service delivery impact of the total amount of R214.6 million being returned to the National Revenue Fund (NRF) by the following provinces: Eastern Cape, R36.3 million; the Free State, R15.5 million; Gauteng, R40.9 million; KwaZulu-Natal, R43.4 million; Limpopo, R5.7 million; Mpumalanga, R3.1 million; the Northern Cape, R14.1 million; and the North West, R55.2 million.
6.3 The Committee welcomed the development of a procurement strategy to address some of the procurement challenges and to improve the way provinces appointed contractors to manage projects; the development of uniform low-cost ECD centre designs; and the quarterly site visits to monitor project implementation and expenditure.
6.4 The Committee welcomed the fact that the non-centre based allocations of the subsidy component were earmarked for the neediest children in deep rural and disadvantaged areas, where there was no basic infrastructure, and who only received some early learning stimulation a few times a week.
6.5 The Committee noted that, while the official hand-over from the Department of Social Development (DSD) to the Department of Basic Education (DBE) had taken place on 1 April 2022, the migration process had actually started more than two years previously and may only conclude over the following two years; and that the DSD was still working closely with the DBE to ensure a smooth handover and minimal disruption to services.
6.6 The Committee remained concerned over the reported under-expenditure in various provinces, which could be attributed to delays in procurement processes negatively affecting the construction of low-cost ECD projects in the Eastern Cape, Free State, KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo, Mpumalanga, Northern Cape and North West.

The Committee noted with concern that these procurement delays were a common problem across provinces, with negative consequences for poor and needy children.
8 120 6.7 The Committee noted that, according to the DSD’s audits, there were more unregistered ECD centres than registered ones in the country, primarily in disadvantaged communities, and that the DSD was continually working with these centres to capacitate them.

The Committee welcomed the fact that, in order to assist some of these unregistered centres, the DSD had developed a pre-registration support package to enable them to receive the subsidy.
6.8 The Committee welcomed the strict guidelines and mitigation strategy put in place by the DSD for all provinces to ensure that monies were paid to the correct people and in line with the Grant framework, the Public Finance Management Act and Treasury Regulations; and that there had been no audit findings since the inception of the stimulus package.

7.

Recommendations 7.1 The Committee believes that intensifying investment of resources at the early stages of education is crucial for the country.
Therefore, it urges the Department of Basic Education (DBE) to continue efforts to increase the number of poor children accessing subsidised ECD services through centre and non-centre based programmes.

The DBE should fast-track the verification of beneficiaries and urgently address the issue of outstanding information.
7.2 The Department of Basic Education and provinces such as the Eastern Cape, Free State, Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo, Mpumalanga, Northern Cape and North West should fast-track the implementation of all remedial actions outlined to the Committee, including addressing delays in the procurement processes; late signing of service level agreements (SLAs) and late payment of implementing agencies; to improve the Grant expenditure and performance.
The Committee is of the view that the persistent under-expenditure and returning of funds back to the National Revenue Fund, due to failure to spend according to projections, is unacceptable and continues to undermine the collective efforts to intensify investment of resources in the early stages of education.
7.3 The Committee urges both the Department of Basic Education (DBE) and the Department of Social Development (DSD) to continue working together to ensure the smooth transition of the ECD Programme from the DSD to the DBE.

The Committee further recommends that, before the handover process is finalised, the DSD should compile a detailed and 9 121 thorough report to further assist the DBE to address some of the pertinent challenges, including around infrastructure delivery and contract management.
7.4 The Committee urges the Department of Basic Education to continue the implementation of strict measures and mitigation systems, put in place by the Department of Social Development for all provinces, to ensure that monies are consistently paid to the correct beneficiaries in line with the Grant framework, the Public Finance Management Act and Treasury Regulations; and to ensure that appropriate consequence management is implemented for provinces failing to spend according to the projected budgets without valid reasons.
7.5 The Committee urges the Department of Basic Education to further collaborate and coordinate the policy development processes with other government departments where necessary, especially those that form part of the value chain in the ECD Programme.

The Committee believes that there is a need for a government- and society wide effort to ensure that this matter receives the necessary support from all stakeholders.
7.6 Whilst the Committee urges National Treasury to ensure that roll-over requests are always considered according to the conditions set out in section 6.4 of the Treasury Regulations and section 30 and 31 of the Public Finance Management Act, the Committee believes that the alignment of plans with approved budgets and monitoring and evaluation systems need to be improved in all three spheres of government.
Both Parliament and provincial legislatures, through sector committees, should continue to intensify efforts to scrutinise departmental plans during budget vote processes, to ensure that alignment of plans and better service delivery are achieved at all levels of government.

Report to be considered.

10 122 4.


REPORT OF THE SELECT COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS ON THE EXPENDITURE AND PERFORMANCE OF THE INFORMAL SETTLEMENTS UPGRADING PARTNERSHIP GRANT FOR PROVINCES IN THE FIRST QUARTER OF THE 2022/23 FINANCIAL YEAR; DATED 12 OCTOBER 2022 1.

Background Section 4(a), (d) and (e) of the Money Bills and Related Matters Act No.
09 of 2009 (as amended in 2018), mandates the Committee to consider and report on spending issues; reports on statements of actual expenditure published by the National Treasury; and any other related matter set out in the Act.

These provisions, read together with section 32 of the Public Finance Management Act No.

01 of 1999 (as amended), and section 16 of the Division of Revenue Act No.

05 of 2022, provides the framework for the legislative sector to play an oversight role over the Executive.
Against this background, the Committee undertook to assess the implementation, performance and expenditure of the Informal Settlements Upgrading Partnership Grant for Provinces in the first quarter of the 2022/23 financial year.

The purpose of the Grant is to intensify efforts to upgrade informal settlements by providing funding to facilitate a programmatic and inclusive approach.

2.
2.

Terms of reference Due to the fact that the Grant was recently introduced as a standalone, the Committee had not had an opportunity to assess its implementation and expenditure; and therefore resolved to conduct a hearing on the performance of this Grant on 10 August 2022.

The Department of Human Settlements and the National Treasury were invited to report on its financial and non- financial performance for the first quarter of the 2022/23 financial year.
In addition, all nine provincial departments of human settlements were invited to attend and take part in the deliberations.

In order to provide a holistic picture on matters relevant to informal settlements upgrading, the Department of Human Settlements also shared with the Committee financial and non-financial data for the 2021/22 financial year and the first quarter of the 2022/23 financial year on the Informal Settlements Upgrading Partnership Grant for Metropolitan Municipalities.
As much 1 123 as this data was important and highly appreciated, it was not incorporated into this Report in order not to widen its scope.

3.

Informal Settlements Upgrading Partnership Grant for Provinces The Informal Settlements Upgrading Partnership Grant for Provinces was introduced via a window within the Human Settlements Development Grant (HSDG), equivalent to 15 percent of the HSDG, in the 2019/20 financial year.
This window was intended to serve as a planning and preparatory platform before the Grant would be established as a standalone grant in the 2020/21 financial year.

However, provinces required additional time to complete their informal settlements upgrading strategies.

The Grant was, therefore, formally introduced into the grant system as of the 2021/22 financial year.
The Grant outputs are defined according to Phases 1 to 3 of the Upgrading of Informal Settlements Programme (UISP) in the National Housing Code of 2009.

The Phase 1 output is the number of pre-feasibility studies completed.
The Phase 2 outputs include pre- planning/feasibility studies; land acquisition; the number of settlements supplied with bulk infrastructure; the number of settlements benefitting from interim municipal engineering services and/or any alternate technology; and the number of settlements provided with rudimentary services.
The Phase 3 outputs include the number of settlements provided with municipal engineering services and/or any alternative technology; the number of serviced sites developed; the number of social and economic amenities provided by the municipality in consultation with the communities; the number of sites transferred to end users; the number of households provided with secure tenure, the number of engineering designs for water, sewer, roads, and storm water drainage concluded; and the number of layout plans approved.
The key outcomes for households living in informal settlements in the window period were - • To provide tenure rights; • To ensure the provision of a healthy and secure living environment; and • To facilitate community partnerships and participation in the development of settlements.

During this period, the outputs included the following: • Programmatic province-wide informal settlements upgrading strategy.
2 124 • Approved individual informal settlements upgrading plans according to the National Upgrading Support Programme.

• Social compacts concluded with communities outlining their role.

• Informal settlements designated for upgrading in terms of the Municipal Spatial Development Framework.

• Households provided with secure tenure.

• Households provided with water, electricity and sanitation services (grid and non- grid).
• Informal settlements provided with public lighting, roads, storm water, refuse removal and bulk connections for water, electricity and sanitation.

From the 2020/21 financial year the following outputs were added: • Hectares of land acquired for relocation of category B2 and C settlements.

• Hectares of land acquired for in situ upgrading.

• In situ individual serviced sites developed.

4.


National Treasury Having provided information on the allocations and performance of the Grant since inception, National Treasury reported that the provincial allocations for the 2022/23 financial year had been as per Table 1 below.

The Eastern Cape had reportedly not spent any of the funds transferred as at the end of the first quarter; while the Northern Cape and the North West had overspent during the same quarter.
Table 1: 2022/23 financial allocation per province and first quarter expenditure 2022/23 Province Main Allocation Transferred First quarter Percentage spent R’000 funds R’000 expenditure against voted Eastern Cape 458 151 137 445 Free State Gauteng 241 563 62 983 1 175 155 235 031 KwaZulu-Natal 756 868 310 267 Limpopo 269 465 98 650 funds - 14 147 27 670 35 943 26 529 0 5.9 2.4 4.7 9.8 3 125 Mpumalanga Northern Cape North West Western Cape 274 653 81 272 379 324 68 226 16 491 58 060 489 638 102 000 Total 4 121 089 1 089 153 66 557 26 876 109 799 101 240 408 761 24.2 33.1 28.9 20.7 9% National Treasury further reported the following challenges and risks, which had been observed with respect to the Grant: • Reporting on the Grant, as required by the Division of Revenue Act, had been inconsistent.
Many provinces were not submitting data on outputs and achievements.

For example, five provinces had not submitted a 2021/22 financial year evaluation report.

• The delayed approval of provincial business plans by the national Department of Human Settlements, had contributed to the delayed implementation of the Grant.
• Planning delays had been caused by the comprehensive requirements, such as pre- feasibility studies, Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) approvals, geotechnical reports, social facilitation, and land surveying.

• Municipal approvals, such as for engineering designs, were not given swiftly.

• Projects were delayed and additional costs incurred due to poor performance by implementing agents (IAs) and contractors.
• Social compacts with communities, to explain roles and processes, were not done according to plan.

• Community unrest and business forums stalled progress with demands to participate in projects.

• People had settled in the way of services, and needed to be relocated for services to be fully installed.

• Significant financial transfers had been made to agencies and entities, that needed to be accounted for through verification.

• There were delays in supply chain management processes and procurement.
5.

Department of Human Settlements The Department of Human Settlements (DHS) submitted that a total of R3.9 billion had been allocated to the Grant in the 2021/22 financial year.

During the same period, R20 million each 4 126 had been reallocated from the Free State, Gauteng, and Limpopo provinces and transferred to the Northern Cape Province, raising its total allocation from R76.7 million to R136.7 million.
Only four provinces, the Eastern Cape, Free State, KwaZulu-Natal and Northern Cape, had spent 100 percent of their allocations.

Mpumalanga, North West and Western Cape had spent above 90 percent of their allocated funds.

Despite losing R20 million, Limpopo had only spent 58 percent of its funds.
The DHS further reported that the Eastern Cape and Gauteng had been transferring their Grant funds to their provincial housing development agencies (HDAs), which had been acting as implementing agents (IAs) for this Grant.

Furthermore, Gauteng had also been using municipalities as IAs.

Focusing on the financial report for the first quarter of the 2022/23 financial year, the DHS concurred with National Treasury’s figures captured in Table 1 above.
The DHS further indicated that the spending had been poor, with only 38 percent of transferred funds being spent; amounting to only 9 percent of the total allocation.

The Eastern Cape was highlighted as the only province reporting zero expenditure at the end of the first quarter.

Other provinces that had spent below 30 percent of the transferred funds, were Free State, Gauteng, KwaZulu- Natal, and Limpopo.

The Northern Cape and North West had overspent on their first quarter transfers.
The DHS submitted that at the time of reporting, there were 3 605 informal settlements in the country, with 481 in the Eastern Cape; 161 in the Free State; 731 in Gauteng; 740 in KwaZulu- Natal; 74 in Limpopo; 368 in Mpumalanga; 151 in the Northern Cape; 136 in the North West; and 763 in the Western Cape.
Of the 3 605, 1 804 were located in metropolitan municipalities, with 154 in Buffalo City; 464 in the City of Cape Town; 119 in the City of Ekurhuleni; 210 in the City of Johannesburg; 186 in the City of Tshwane; 530 in Ethekwini; 47 in Mangaung; and 94 in the Nelson Mandela Bay.

The DHS reported the following key overall achievements since the inception of the Grant: • Establishment of a baseline for informal settlements upgrading.
• Establishment of a framework for monitoring and reporting performance (project- based reporting and direct relationship between plans and reporting).

• Institutionalisation of engagements between provinces and municipalities and support with upgrading of informal settlements.

5 127 • Establishment of a dashboard for informal settlements in partnership with the Housing Development Agency.

• Moving towards digitalisation of planning and reporting.
Furthermore, the DHS submitted that 610 informal settlements across the country had been upgraded in the 2021/22 financial year, using Phases 1 to 3 of the Upgrading of Informal Settlements Programme (UISP) in the National Housing Code of 2009 as indicators of performance and a manual for the required outputs and activities.
However, there had not been much progress by provinces with achieving key outputs during the first quarter of the 2022/23 financial year and much of the work was earmarked to be rolled out from the second quarter.

6.
6.

Observations and findings Having received submissions from the National Treasury and the Department of Human Settlements, the Committee observed the following: 6.1 The Grant framework may contain monitoring and reporting weaknesses which are contributing to poor levels of performance by the majority of provinces.

It appears as if the business plans are not complied with and as such, the risk of potential under- spending by provinces is not detected early.
6.2 There may be shortcomings in the process of approving business plans by the DHS.

The process of ensuring that business plans contain all the relevant information and the length of interaction periods between the DHS and provinces could be a contributing factor to the high under-expenditure by most provinces in the first quarter of the 2022/23 financial year.
6.3 The Committee is concerned over the potential instances of fiscal dumping, where funds transferred by provinces to implementing agents (provincial housing development agencies) are reported as expenditure when, in actual fact, such funds had not necessarily been spent.

While noting the measures the DHS is reportedly taking to mitigate that risk, the Committee may still decide to invite some of the IAs to report on their expenditure and deliverables.
6 128 6.4 Provincial spending on this Grant in the first quarter of the 2022/23 financial year was extremely low for a country with informal settlements continuously mushrooming.

The Committee found it concerning that the Eastern Cape had recorded zero expenditure and that most provinces had not performed well, with the Free State spending only 6 percent of its total allocation; Gauteng spending 2 percent, KwaZulu-Natal 5 percent and Limpopo only 10 percent.
6.5 The Committee is concerned about the design and timeframes of the business plans of the under-performing provinces.

It further appeared as if the DHS’ monitoring and evaluation responsibility was not properly executed as the Grant was continuously implemented during the first quarter of the 2022/23 financial year.
6.6 The Committee notes the planned engagements around the social compacts required by the Grant framework, which may assist to address some of the challenges contributing toward the grievances of the informal settlements communities.

The Committee is of the view that this is an important intervention to map out some of the measures to address the challenges that have engulfed informal settlements.
6.7 The Committee notes that the DHS has taken some steps to address the matter of classification of expenditure and accountability, including requiring the housing development agency, implementing agent (IA) of most of the provinces, to account to the technical MINMEC on amounts transferred and spent as well as deliverables.
6.8 The Committee further notes that the DHS has a record of all the funds transferred to other organs of state and has agreed with provinces that these would be reported as opening balances in the statements of the new financial year.

6.9 The Committee is concerned about proper alignment between municipal Integrated Development Plans (IDPs) and provincial and national government plans, which is required to ensure coherence and streamlining and to enhance Grant performance across sector plans.
6.10 The Committee notes that the upgrading of informal settlements provides the basis for housing development.

However, it is concerned that the illegal occupation of land is 7 129 hampering government efforts to properly plan, budget and effectively make use of state resources to deliver proper housing projects.

The Committee is of the view that this is one of the issues creating animosity within communities and putting people’s lives at risk.
The Committee appreciates that the DHS is investigating ways to assist municipalities with the capacity to evict illegal occupiers.

6.11 The Committee notes the concern raised by the Minister of Human Settlements that the Grant framework is too constrained and not conducive to good performance; as well as that inequality is being perpetuated by the way in which funding is allocated between urban, semi-urban and rural areas.
The Committee is of the view that there is a need to ensure that funds are appropriated in a way that enables the receiving department to spend effectively.

7.

Recommendations Flowing from the above observations, the Committee recommends as follows: 7.1 The Department of Human Settlements, working together with National Treasury, should strive to tighten the framework of the Informal Settlements Upgrading Partnership Grant for Provinces before the beginning of the 2023/24 financial year.
This will ensure more thorough planning, monitoring and reporting by provinces.

Furthermore, this should improve the level of performance and correctly assess the risks of under-expenditure to ensure that early interventions are taken to prevent any possible wastage or fruitless expenditure.

7.2 The Department of Human Settlements should consider reviewing the business plan approval process and urgently address the reported delays.
Approval of business plans should not occur in the middle of the financial year.

Clear timelines for the approval process should be adopted by the sector and they should be carefully considered in a transparent manner.

These timeframes should be included in the business plan framework and adhered to.
7.3 The Committee implores the Department of Human Settlements, together with provincial departments of human settlements and municipalities, to urgently take steps 8 130 to intensify efforts to ensure alignment of municipal Integrated Development Plans with those of provincial and national government.

The Committee is of the view that this has been a problem for the past years and therefore, specific urgent interventions are required to address this.
Parliament together with provincial legislatures will continue to monitor progress in this regard.

7.4 The Department of Human Settlements (DHS) should perform rigorous programme and contract management to minimise the risk of under-performance; and provincial departments, working together with the DHS, should continuously improve programme design and hold the implementing agencies and contractors accountable for poor performance.
Parliament and provincial legislatures will continue to monitor this going forward.

7.5 The Department of Human Settlements should continue to hold accountable provinces that transfer funds to implementing agencies.

The Department should also demand financial accountability and value for money from the implementing and contracted agencies.

This will assist to ensure that there are no financial leakages and fiscal dumping, and opportunities for corrupt practices.
7.6 The provincial departments of human settlements should comply with section 16 of the Division of Revenue Act, which requires provinces to provide agreements it has with other organs of state and a schedule of payments to the National Treasury, the Transferring Officer and provincial treasuries.

These agreements should be submitted to these institutions as a matter of urgency and at the latest, within two weeks after the adoption of this Report by the National Council of Provinces (NCOP).
7.7 The planned engagements through social compacts, required by the Grant framework, should be prioritised to reduce instances of community protests that often stall projects.

Such public protest does not only interfere with the government planned projects but also results in the loss of people’s lives and vandalism to the existing infrastructure, which negatively affects service delivery.
Therefore, the Committee implores all community leaders across political organisations, social partners, private sector and government institutions to find a way to address this and its negative impact on the poor and vulnerable communities.
9 131 7.8 The Committee implores the National Treasury to expedite the process of reviewing all conditional grant frameworks to address the Minister of Human Settlements’ concern around the Grant framework being too constrained and not supporting the Department to improve performance.
7.9 Noting that provinces seem to lack the capacity or will to spend the Grant effectively; the Committee recommends that the National Treasury should consider the possibility of transferring the Grant funds to local municipalities after an accreditation process and upon presentation of business plans; similar to the way the Municipal Infrastructure Grant is administered.
7.10 The Committee urges National Treasury, the Department of Human Settlements, and the provincial departments tasked with spending these allocated funds to remember that these are not mere numbers and targets, but that these are in fact the lives of people that they are dealing with.

The people who rely the most on Government support for their quality of life.
As such, the Committee urges all bureaucrats to seek ways in which to ensure that the funds are spent promptly and in the most cost-effective manner in ways designed to enhance the lives of the people living in informal settlements.

Report to be considered.

10 132 5.


REPORT OF THE SELECT COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS ON THE EXPENDITURE AND PERFORMANCE OF THE LAND CARE PROGRAMME GRANT AS AT THE END OF THE FOURTH QUARTER OF THE 2021/22 FINANCIAL YEAR AND THE FIRST QUARTER OF THE 2022/23 FINANCIAL YEAR; DATED 12 OCTOBER 2022 1.

Background Section 4(a), (d) and (e) of the Money Bills and Related Matters Act No.
09 of 2009 (as amended in 2018), mandates the Committee to consider and report on spending issues; reports on statements of actual expenditure published by the National Treasury; and any other related matter set out in the Act.

These provisions, read together with section 32 of the Public Finance Management Act No.

01 of 1999 (as amended), and section 16 of the Division of Revenue Act No.

05 of 2022, provides the framework for the legislative sector to play an oversight role over the Executive.
Against this background, the Committee undertook to assess the implementation, performance and expenditure of the Land Care Programme Grant as at the end of the fourth quarter of the 2021/22 financial year and the first quarter of the 2022/23 financial year.

The purpose of the Grant is to optimise productivity and enhance sustainable use of natural agricultural resources leading to greater production, food security, job creation and a better life for all.

2.
2.

Terms of reference Due to under-spending by some provinces, the Committee resolved to conduct a hearing on the expenditure and service delivery performance of this Grant on 31 August 2022.

Four provincial departments of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development (Gauteng, Limpopo, Northern Cape and North West) were invited to report on their financial and non-financial performance as at the end of the fourth quarter of the 2021/22 financial year and the first quarter of the 2022/23 financial year.
The Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development was also invited, and it chose to table a consolidated report of the four provinces.

In addition, National Treasury was invited to provide a consolidated report on the performance of the Grant in the period under review.

3.
Grant outputs The overall outputs of the Land Care Programme Grant are - 1 133 • Hectares of rangeland protected and rehabilitated; • Hectares of arable land protected and rehabilitated; • Hectares of land under conservation agriculture; • Number of farmers using conservation agriculture; • Number of youths successfully attending organised junior Land Care initiatives; • Number of hectares of land where water resources are protected and rehabilitated; • Number of capacity building initiatives conducted for land carers and institutions; • Number of people who benefited from capacity building initiatives; • Number of awareness campaigns conducted; • Number of people more aware of sustainable use of natural agricultural resources; • Hectares of land where weeds and invader plants are under control; • Number of kilometres of fence erected; • Number of green jobs created, expressed as full-time equivalents (FTEs); and • Number of Land Care Committees established.
The Grant outputs range from the number of hectares of land that is rehabilitated and conserved to include the number of beneficiaries of capacity building initiatives and green jobs, and the number of guidelines and legislation developed to manage the country’s natural resources.

4.

National Treasury National Treasury submitted that in the 2021/22 financial year, the Grant had been allocated R89.8 million, of which provinces had spent R74.2 million, or 82.6 percent.
Of the selected provinces, Gauteng had spent R2.2 million of the R5 million allocated to it; Limpopo had spent R8.5 million against an allocation of R15.5 million; the Northern Cape had spent R5.1 million of an allocation of R9.1 million; and North West had spent R9.5 million of its allocation of R10.9 million.

By the end of the first quarter of the 2022/23 financial year, the expenditure by these provinces had been relatively poor.
Gauteng had reported zero expenditure of the R5.2 million budget and Limpopo had spent R1.2 million, or 9.6 percent of the total allocation of R13.3 million.

While the Northern Cape and North West could not spend their actual Grant funds; both provinces had spent from their own revenue while waiting on the Grant transfers.
The Northern Cape, whose total Grant allocation was R7.8 million, had spent R2.4 million of own revenue 2 134 and North West, whose total allocation was R8.9 million, had spent R11 000 of its own revenue.

The Grant funds had since been transferred to these provinces.

The National Treasury reported the following challenges and risks in relation to the Grant: • The late approval of business plans and transfers to provinces resulted in projects being implemented later than planned.
• Procurement delays, with goods and services delivered late (after the planting season) had a negative effect on delivery of outputs.

• Service providers were appointed late.

• Fencing projects were constantly delayed by rain and difficult terrain; the late delivery of materials; and contractors declining orders because of the prohibitive cost of materials.
The National Treasury made the following recommendations: • The sector must streamline the business plan process so that business plans were approved as planned, and transfers made according to the payment schedule.

• Procurement delays should be resolved to ensure goods and services were delivered on time, considering the seasonal nature of outputs.

• The sector needed to reassess the delivery of fencing projects, given the numerous challenges provinces faced.
• Overall monitoring of the Grant needed to be strengthened, so that challenges and risks were highlighted early and mitigated.

5.
5.

Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development 5.1 Land Care principles, process and roles The Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development (DALRRD) reported that the six principles of the Land Care Programme were as follows: • Integrated sustainable natural resource management embedded within a holistic policy and strategic framework where the primary causes of natural resource decline are recognized and addressed.
• Fostering group or community based and led natural resource management within a participatory framework that includes all land users, both rural and urban, so that they take ownership of the process and the outcomes.

3 135 • The development of sustainable livelihoods for individuals, groups and communities utilising empowerment strategies.

• Government, community and individual capacity building through targeted training, education and support mechanisms.
• The development of active and true partnerships between government, land care groups and communities, non-government organisations and industry.

• The blending together of appropriate upper level policy processes with bottom up feedback mechanisms.

The DALRRD further explained the process followed with the approval of business plans and the implementation of the programme.

Within this process, the DALRRD had the following responsibilities: • Host the national assessment panel (NAP).
• Provide the guidelines and criteria for the development and approval of business plans.

• Monitor implementation of the programme in line with the grant framework.

• Submit quarterly performance reports to relevant stakeholders.

• Submit evaluation reports to the National Treasury and any other relevant stakeholders.

The provincial departments had the following responsibilities with Grant implementation: • Hold provincial assessment panel (PAP).
• Ensure the province has adequate capacity to implement Land Care projects.

• Implement the projects according to the approved business plans.

• Submit financial reports and quarterly non-financial reports.

• Monitor project implementation and evaluate the impact of projects towards achieving Land Care goals.

• Promote best practises.


5.2 Financial performance The DALRRD reported that, of the R83.3 million allocated for the Grant in the 2021/22 financial year, only R80.5 million had been transferred to provinces.

Gauteng had received only R2.2 million of its initial allocation of R5 million; of which it had spent 44.8 percent.

4 136 Limpopo had received R13 million and had managed to spend R8.5 million, or 65.6 percent.
The Northern Cape had received R7.6 million and had managed to spend R6.7 million, or 87.5 percent; and the North West had received R8.7 million and had managed to spend R8.5 million, or 97.3 percent.
For the 2022/23 financial year, none of Gauteng’s allocation of R5.2 million had been transferred in the first quarter, as the province was yet to finalise its business plan; while Limpopo had received R5.9 million of its R13.3 million allocation; Northern Cape R3.5 million of R7.8 million; and North West R4 million of its R8.9 million allocation.

Only Limpopo had managed to record any spending in the first quarter, spending R1.2 million, or 9.5 percent.
5.3 Non-financial performance The DALRRD reported on the selected provinces’ performance outputs in the 2021/22 financial year in nine key performance areas (KPAs).

5.3.1 Soil protection Gauteng and North West had zero outputs, while the Northern Cape had rehabilitated or protected 800 hectares of cultivated land and Limpopo had constructed 5 kilometres of waterways or contours.
5.3.2 Rangeland management Gauteng, Limpopo and the Northern Cape had zero outputs, while the North West had achieved 886 hectares of land where bush encroachment had been controlled, against a target of 998 hectares.

5.3.3 Conservation of water resources Gauteng, the Northern Cape and the North West had zero outputs, while Limpopo had reportedly developed or protected four water sources against over-utilisation.
5.3.4 Control of weeds and invader plants Gauteng and North West had zero outputs, while Limpopo had achieved 99 hectares and the Northern Cape 4 759 hectares of land where weeds and invader plants were under control.

5.3.5 Junior Land Care 5 137 None of the selected provinces had any outputs under this KPA in 2021/22.
5.3.6 Land Care awareness Gauteng and North West had zero outputs, while Limpopo had achieved 1 191 and the Northern Cape 80 with regard to the increase in the number of people made more aware of the sustainable use of natural resources.

5.3.7 Land Care capacity building and partnerships Gauteng, the Northern Cape and North West had zero outputs, while Limpopo had reported 525 for the number of people with improved capacity and skill levels benefitting from capacity building initiatives.
5.3.8 Kilometres of fences erected Gauteng and the Northern Cape had zero outputs, while Limpopo had reported 33 and North West 14, with regard to kilometres of fencing erected in grazing and arable land.

5.3.9 Conservation agriculture Gauteng had zero outputs, while Limpopo had achieved 415 hectares of land under the conservation agriculture system and 369 farmers adopting the conservation agriculture system.
North West reportedly had 36 farmers adopting this system and the Northern Cape had conducted one information day to promote conservation agriculture and reported 30 as the number of people with improved capacity and skill levels benefitting from capacity building initiatives.
As the business plans had only been finalised in June 2022, no performance outputs were reported by the selected provinces for the first quarter of 2022/23, with the exception of Limpopo, who had reported an increase of 50 under the number of people made more aware of the sustainable use of natural resources, as well as one land care committee established.

Gauteng was yet to finalise its 2022/23 business plans at the time of reporting.

6.
6.

Findings and observations 6.1 The Committee noted that, for the 2021/22 financial year, the Land Care Programme Grant had been allocated a total amount of R89.8 million; however, at the end of the financial 6 138 year provinces had only spent R74.2 million, or 82.6 percent.

Those who reported slow spending included Gauteng, Limpopo, Northern Cape and North West.
6.2 The Committee noted that, at the end of the first quarter of the 2022/23 financial year, Gauteng had reported zero expenditure of its R5.2 million budget, while Limpopo had only spent R1.2 million, or 9.6 percent of its allocation in the same period.

The Committee further noted that the Northern Cape and North West could not spend their actual Grant funding and had spent from their own revenue while waiting for the Grant transfers.
6.3 The Committee remained concerned about the limited capacity in some provinces, including the lack of specialists, which delayed the business plan approval process and negatively impacted on other processes such as transfer of funds, appointment of contractors and procurement.

Moreover, the Committee welcomed the fact that the DALRRD had taken steps to convene a workshop with provinces with specific focus on key challenges and to allocate officials from the national sphere to assist in this regard.
6.4 The Committee noted that the main focus of the Land Care Programme was preventative interventions, mitigating when disasters hit and addressing land degradation with the limited resources.

6.5 The Committee remained concerned about the implementation of consequence management for non-performing provinces, given that transferring officers had powers to withhold funds from a province through the Division of Revenue Act if there was no delivery or the business plans not submitted as required.
6.6 The Committee noted that the under-spending in the fourth quarter of 2021/22 in the North West was mainly due to chemical shortages at the end of the financial year.

Furthermore, a roll-over had been requested from the National Treasury and the chemicals had since been delivered and service providers paid.
6.7 The Committee remained concerned about the fact that North West had experienced challenges where the traditional leader at the Land Care Programme site had blocked the training of people as well as the delivery of materials; however, it welcomed the fact that the MEC had taken steps to resolve the matter and that plans were in place to improve spending.

7 139 7.
7 139 7.

Recommendations 7.1 Gauteng, Limpopo and Northern Cape should take specific steps to improve expenditure as well as planning processes to ensure that the Land Care Programme Grant transfer is received timeously.

They need to ensure that the Grant is spent according to plans as well as the requirements of the Grant framework.
The Committee is of the view that National Treasury should intensify its various monitoring mechanisms, such as meeting with the sector on a quarterly basis, as reported to the Committee.
7.2 The Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development should expedite the initiative of convening a workshop with all provinces, focusing on addressing capacity challenges in provinces as well as allocation of officials from the national sphere to help improve performance and produce realistic business plans on time.
7.3 The transferring officer should ensure that consequence management is implemented, as provided for in the Division of Revenue Act, and that other public finance management prescripts are followed, where necessary, to enforce compliance.

However, the Committee is of the view that this should be done strictly in terms of Section 216 (3) of the Constitution to ensure Government acts in the interests of poor South Africans and service delivery.
The Committee further recommends that the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development should intensify interventions aimed at assisting provinces such as the Northern Cape, North West and Gauteng, where zero performance had been reported due to non-submission of business plans.

7.4 National Treasury should ensure that rolling over of funds is not encouraged, due to its negative impact on service delivery.
However, when it does happen, such as in the case of North West’s under-expenditure due to chemical shortages, the approval process should be done in accordance with section 6.4.1 of the Treasury Regulations and section 30 (2) (g) and 31 (2) (g) of the Public Finance Management Act of 1999.
7.5 The National Treasury and the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development and its provincial counterparts should ensure that the Land Care Programme Grant is always prioritised and, where non-performance persists, consideration should be 8 140 given to devolving the Grant to municipal level or to redirecting funds away from non- performing provinces to those who are proactive in their planning.

Report to be considered.

9 141 6.


REPORT OF THE SELECT COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS ON THE EXPENDITURE AND PERFORMANCE OF THE LEARNERS WITH PROFOUND INTELLECTUAL DISABILITIES AND MATHS, SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY GRANTS AS AT THE END OF THE FOURTH QUARTER OF THE 2021/22 FINANCIAL YEAR AND THE FIRST QUARTER OF THE 2022/23 FINANCIAL YEAR; DATED 12 OCTOBER 2022 1.

Background Section 4(a), (d) and (e) of the Money Bills and Related Matters Act No.
09 of 2009 (as amended in 2018), mandates the Committee to consider and report on spending issues; reports on statements of actual expenditure published by the National Treasury; and any other related matter set out in the Act.

These provisions, read together with section 32 of the Public Finance Management Act No.

01 of 1999 (as amended), and section 16 of the Division of Revenue Act No.

05 of 2022, provides the framework for the legislative sector to play an oversight role over the Executive.
Against this background, the Committee undertook to assess the implementation, performance and expenditure of the Learners with Profound Intellectual Disabilities (LPID) Grant and the Maths, Science and Technology (MST) Grant as at the end of the fourth quarter of the 2021/22 financial year and the first quarter of the 2022/23 financial year.
The purpose of the LPID Grant is to provide necessary support, resources and equipment to identified special care centres and schools for the provision of education to children with severe to profound intellectual disabilities.

The purpose of MST Grant is to provide support and resources to schools, teachers, and learners in line with the Curriculum Assessment Policy Statements (CAPS) for the improvement of mathematics, science and technology teaching and learning at selected public schools.

2.
2.

Terms of reference Due to under-spending of both grants by some provinces, the Committee resolved to conduct a hearing on the expenditure and service delivery performance of these grants on 24 August 2022.
Five provincial departments of education (Eastern Cape, Free State, Limpopo, Mpumalanga and Western Cape) were identified and invited to report on their financial and non-financial performance as at the end of the fourth quarter of the 2021/22 financial year and 1 142 the first quarter of the 2022/23 financial year.

In addition, National Treasury was invited to provide a consolidated report on these grants covering the period under review.
The Department of Basic Education (DBE) was also invited to attend and take part in the deliberations.

3.
Grant outputs The overall outputs of the Learners with Profound Intellectual Disabilities Grant are - • Employment of nine deputy chief education specialists as provincial grant managers; • Appointment of 245 transversal itinerant outreach team members to provide support in special care centres and targeted schools; • 505 special care centres’ data captured and managed using the South African School Administration and Management System; • 245 transversal itinerant outreach team members, 2 970 care givers, 1 928 teachers, 408 in-service therapists and 510 officials trained on the learning programme for learners with profound intellectual disabilities and other programmes that support the facilitation of the learning programme; and • 9 669 children with severe to profound intellectual disabilities supported through outreach services.
The overall outputs of the Maths, Science and Technology Grant are - • School support through provision of computer hardware and software, workshop machinery and equipment, and maths, science and robotics kits; • Learner support through camps, and additional teaching and support materials; and • Teacher support by training educators.

4.
4.

National Treasury In Table 1 below, National Treasury provided the LPID and MST Grant allocations and expenditure of each province at the end of the fourth quarter of the 2021/22 financial year as well as at the end of the first quarter of the 2022/23 financial year.

Except for the Free State, all provinces had under-spent transferred funds by the end of the first quarter.
Table 1: Allocations and expenditure in 2020/21 and first quarter of 2022/23 2 143 LPID Grant LPID Grant MST Grant Province 2021/22 2022/23 2021/22 MST Grant 2022/23 Budget Funds Budget Funds Budget Funds Budget Transferred Funds R’000 Spent at R’000 Spent at R’000 Spent at R’000 funds end of 4th Quarter R’000 end of 1st Quarter R’000 end of 4th Quarter R’000 Eastern Cape 33 909 23 924 28 333 4 383 59 696 38 691 53 950 Free State 29 354 21 190 27 125 7 974 46 723 42 895 39 334 Gauteng 34 518 34 487 35 150 3 237 58 811 58 642 60 901 KwaZulu- 32 576 32 576 34 423 5 229 67 855 67 857 70 244 Natal Limpopo 34 151 26 406 34 451 5 757 52 245 48 656 49 721 Mpumalanga 30 780 30 115 31 523 6 060 42 584 33 283 43 833 Northern 13 664 13 664 14 068 2 279 27 458 25 517 27 951 Cape North West 19 527 20 976 16 997 3 072 41 592 38 747 41 675 Western 28 892 21 450 33 451 5 373 54 742 45 869 37 184 Cape Spent at end of 4th Quarter R’ The National Treasury reported the challenges and/or risks identified under the LPID Grant as follows: • There was inadequate training of care givers for learners with autism.
Some educators were under pressure due to not being able to cope with the varying behaviour of learners.

• There was inadequate learner and teacher support material (LTSM) storage.

This could lead to material being lost, damaged or stolen.

• There was a high turnover of trained care givers due to some of the care centres not receiving subsidies from the Department of Social Development.
• Many parents could not afford transport for their children to and from the centres, resulting in absenteeism and dropouts.

• Care centres lacked proper infrastructure, such as adequate rest rooms for learners to sleep during the day, and some centres had no kitchens to prepare meals for the learners.

• Some provinces were experiencing procurement delays and challenges, such as procuring assistive devices.
3 144 For the MST Grant, the National Treasury reported the following challenges: • Equipment at some schools were installed late or not at all and machinery could not be used for teaching and learning.

• Inadequate needs analyses were done per school before the procurement of Information Communication Technology (ICT) or workshop equipment.

• Inadequate provision was made for maintenance or the repair of the existing equipment in technical schools.
• There was poor monitoring of the MST programme in addition to late and inconsistent reporting by provincial departments.

• There were procurement delays of kits for Maths and Science, and Coding and Robotics, resulting in deliveries late into the financial year.

5.

Learners with Profound Intellectual Disabilities Grant 5.1 Eastern Cape 5.1.1 Financial performance The Eastern Cape Department of Education (ECDE) had been allocated an amount of R27 million for the LPID Grant in the 2021/22 financial year.
In addition, an amount of R6 million had been rolled over from the previous financial year, bringing the total amount received to R33 million.

Of this total, the ECDE had spent only R23.8 million, and had requested a roll- over to the amount of R4.4 million.

For the 2022/23 financial year, the ECED had been allocated R28.3 million for the Grant, of which R9 million was transferred during the first quarter.

The ECDE had spent R4.3 million of these funds and had committed a further R3.4 million.
5.1.2 Non-financial performance In the 2021/22 financial year, the ECDE had achieved all its human resources targets, except with regard to Chief Educational Therapists, where one position was vacant.

Against of a target of 300 therapeutic services provided (including physical, occupational, speech and language, and psycho-social support), the ECDE had achieved only 203.

The Province reported that 1 331 learners had been supported at 68 sites and that 68 laptops had been procured for special care centres.
However, no targets were reported against which this could be measured.

The ECDE had failed to meet its training targets, with the exception of transversal outreach teams.

4 145 Training had been provided to only 308 care givers, against a target of 350; 47 teachers, against a target of 150; and four therapists against a target of 30.
The ECDE had achieved its target for the provision of learning and teaching support materials (LTSM), but had under-achieved on its targets for providing storage containers and assistive devices.

The Province reported that 251 learners had used the learning programme at special care centres, with 766 report cards being issued and 68 mark schedules completed.
5.1.3 Challenges and mitigation The ECDE reported that the late delivery of procured goods had led to under-expenditure of R4.3 million, which ended up being accruals.

However, a procurement plan had since been put in place and endorsed by the DBE to ensure timeous delivery; including checking the capacity of service providers contracted.
The under-expenditure in compensation of employees (COE) had reportedly been due to the Joe Gqabi team assuming duties four months after the scheduled time; and the team was now in place.

The under-expenditure in the first quarter of the 2022/23 financial year, was the result of unspent COE funds, due to four vacant positions.

However, the recruitment process had started and the vacancies would be filled in the third quarter, within the management plan.
The ECDE was in the process of requesting a deviation of unspent COE funds to utilise for procurement of assistive devices for learners.

5.2 Free State 5.2.1 Financial performance The Free State Department of Education (FSDE) reported that during the 2021/22 financial year, it had spent R21.1 million, or 72.2 percent of the total allocation of R29.3 million.

A roll- over amount of R7 million had been requested.
For the 2022/23 financial year, the FSDE had been allocated R27.1 million for the Grant, of which R9.1 million was transferred during the first quarter.

The FSDE had spent R7.9 million of this amount and had committed a further R676 000.

5.2.2 Non-financial performance The FSDE failed to achieve most of its human resources targets in 2021/22, with vacant positions in all posts except for Senior Education Specialists.

Against a target of providing 480 therapeutic services, the FSDE had achieved only 102.
The Province reported that 629 learners had been supported at 50 special care centres and schools, and that various tools of trade had 5 146 been procured, including psychometric test material; laptops; tilting tables; bedscreens and physiotherapy rollers.

However, no targets were reported against which this could be measured.

The FSDE had under-achieved on all its training targets.
Training had been provided to only 10 teachers, against a target of 150; three therapists, against a target of 22; and one district official, against a target of nine.

Zero training had been provided against the targets of 25 transversal outreach team members and 255 care givers.

The FSDE had achieved its target for the provision of LTSM to special care centres and had also provided 55 assitive devices against a target of 50.
However, it had procured only one LTSM item for schools, against a target of nine; and zero storage containers, against a target of 26.

The FSDE reported that 121 learners had used the learning programme at special care centres, with 121 report cards issued and 19 mark schedules completed; while 127 learners had used th programme at schools, with no report cards being issued or mark schedules completed.
5.2.3 Challenges and mitigation The FSDE reported that the under-expenditure had been due to payments to the amount of R4.1 million not being disbursed; procurement to the amount of R2.9 million being stopped due to the National Directive on Preferential Procurement; and posts not being filled.

In addition, teams were reluctant to order therapy equipment, as the under-developed infrastructure at special care centres (SCCs) meant that there was a high risk of theft.
The FSDE hoped to mitigate this through bilateral meetings with the Department of Social Development, as the custodian of SCCs.

Lastly, the limited adminstrative capacity in districts had been addressed by the allocation of three Administrative Interns for the Grant.

5.3 Limpopo 5.3.1 Financial performance The Limpopo Department of Education (LPDE) had been allocated R32.6 million for the LPID Grant in the 2021/22 financial year.
In addition, an amount of R1.5 million had been rolled over from the previous financial year, bringing the total amount received to R34.1 million.

Of this total, the LPDE had spent R26.4 million, and had requested a roll-over to the amount of R3.7 million.

For the 2022/23 financial year, the LPDE had been allocated R34.4 million for the Grant, of which R10 million was transferred during the first quarter.

The LPDE had spent R5.7 million of these funds and had committed a further R4 million.
5.3.2 Non-financial performance 6 147 In the 2021/22 financial year, the LPDE had achieved all its human resources targets, with the exception of Educational Psychologists, where two positions remained vacant.

Against a target of providing 560 therapeutic services, the LPDE had achieved only 184.

The Province reported that 1 639 learners had been supported at 114 special care centres and schools, and that seven laminating machines had been procured.
However, no targets were reported against which this could be measured.

The LPDE had achieved its targets for the training of transversal outreach teams and therapists.

However, training had been provided to only 108 care givers, against a target of 248; 171 teachers, against a target of 200; and 30 district officials, against a target of 100.

The LPDE had provided 89 LTSM to special care centres, against a target of 90; as well as 102 assistive devices, against a target of 100.
The Province reported that 347 learners had used the learning programme at special care centres and schools, with 347 report cards issued and 78 mark schedules completed.

5.3.3 Challenges and mitigation The LPDE reported that six officials had assumed duty only in May 2022, resulting in compensation of employees (COE) funds for April not being spent.

The LPDE was in the process of submitting a deviation request to the DBE to use the money for assistive devices for leaners.
In addition, there were two vacancies for Educational Psychologist posts, which meant further under-spending on COE.

However, the recruitment process had been initiated and would be finalised in the second quarter.

Finally, payments had reportedly been delayed by the late submission of invoices by suppliers; and a dedicated official had now been tasked to manage this.
5.4 Western Cape 5.4.1 Financial performance The Western Cape Education Departmnet (WCED) had been allocated R28.5 million for the LPID Grant in the 2021/22 financial year.

In addition, and amount of R339 000 had been rolled over from the previous financial year, bringing the total to R28.8 million.

Of this total, the WCED had spent R21.4 million by 31 March 2022; and had requested a roll-over for the whole unspent amount of R7.4 million.
For the 2022/23 financial year, the WCED had been allocated R33.4 million for the Grant, of which R10 million was transferred during the first quarter.

The WCED had spent R5.3 million of these funds and had committed a further R6 million.

5.4.2 Non-financial performance 7 148 The WCED had achieved all its human resources targets in 2021/22, with the exception of Educational Psychologists, where two positions remained vacant.
With regard to access to therapeutic services, the WCED had achieved 332 against a target of 300.

The Province reported that 1 890 learners had been supported at 69 special care centres and schools.

However, no targets were reported against which this could be measured.

The WCED had under-achieved on all its training targets.
Training had been provided to 27 transversal outreach team members, against a target of 30; 409 care givers, against a target of 618; 169 teachers, against a target of 450; 42 therapists, against a target of 100; and 24 district officials, against a target of sixty.

The WCED reported that it had provided 62 LTSM to special care centres, against a target of 75; but that all 62 centres supported by the Grant had received LTSM.
The Province indicated that 966 learners had used the learning programme and special care centres and schools, with 966 report cards issued and 61 mark schedules completed.

5.4.3 Challenges and mitigation The WCED reported that delays in supply chain processes had been resolved, with dedicated staff being identified to manage procurement for the Grant.

6.
6.

Maths, Science and Technology Grant 6.1 Eastern Cape 6.1.1 Financial performance The Eastern Cape Department of Education (ECDE) had received a total of R59.6 million (R52.1 million plus an adjustment of R7.5 million) for the MST Grant in the 2021/22 financial year.

Of this total, it had spent R38.6 million (64.8 percent) and had committed R19.9 million.

The ECDE reported that delays in procurement processes and in the delivery of ordered goods had led to under-spending.
The delays in procurement had been the result of late commitment of funds.

The ECDE further submitted that provisional approval of roll-over funds of R19.9 million had contributed to under-expenditure.

The ECDE had been allocated R53.9 million for the MST Grant for the 2022/23 financial year, of which it had spent R20.2 million (or 37.6 percent) and committed R2.9 million by the end of the first quarter.
6.1.2 Non-financial performance The ECDE submitted that, in the 2021/21 financial year, it had provided 60 schools with smart classrooms; nine schools with civil technology tools and consumables; 16 schools with 8 149 electrical technology equipment and consumables; and seven schools with mechanical technology equipment and consumables.
Moreover, it had provided 30 schools with Physical Science kits; 30 schools with Life Sciences kits; 10 schools with Agricultural Technology equipment and personal protective equipment; and 70 General Education and Training (GET) Schools with Maths kits.
In addition, 1 900 learners had been registered for Olympiads; 3 400 learners had been supplied with Maths and Science Mind the Gap Study guides; 1 150 Maths educators and 1 300 Physical Sciences educators had attended teacher support training and 1 400 Life Sciences teachers and 160 Technical Subject teachers had been trained; and 1 600 GET teachers had attended Maths and Science training.
Under the Department of Basic Education-Cuba support programme, training and learner support material had been developed for Grade 11 and 12 Maths and Science and teachers in four districts had attended training.

In the 2022/23 financial year, there was a procurement plan in place and Physical, Life and Agricultural Sciences material; ICT for Further Education and Training schools; and ICT for Computer Application Technology (CAT) and Engineering Graphic Design (EGD) had already been procured.
At the time of reporting, the ECDE was awaiting approval of a contract for procurement of Coding and Robotics, General Education and Training (GET) Maths, Natural Science and Technology kits.

6.1.3 Challenges and mitigation The ECDE submitted that finalisation of procurement contracts took long and that ICT procurement had been delayed as a result.

The ECDE assured the Committee that procurement would be done following the quotation route.
6.2 Mpumalanga 6.2.1 Financial performance The Mpumalanga Department of Education (MDE) had received R42.5 million for the MST Grant in the 2020/21 financial year; of which it had spent R33.1 million and committed R3.2 million.

In the 2022/23 financial year, the MDE had been allocated R43.8 million for this Grant; of which it had spent R4.8 million and committed R12.2 million by the end of the first quarter.
A plan to fast-track deliveries were reportedly in place to ensure that 50 percent expenditure was achieved at the end of the second quarter.

The MDE reported the following reasons for under-expenditure during 2021/22: 9 150 • Ordered laptops had arrived late and had to be paid for from the 2022/23 budget allocation, pending approval of a roll-over application.
• A sum of R6.1 million had not been paid due to late identification of the actual invoices; which were currently being processed with the intention of paying them by 31 August 2022.

6.2.2 Non-financial performance The MDE reported that, in the 2021/22 financial year, it had provided five schools for CAT and IT with laptop trolleys; 128 primary schools with coding and robotics kits; and 68 secondary schools with laptops.
Furthermore, it had supplied 44 schools offering specialisations with practical assessment task (PAT) material; 24 schools with EGD workbooks; and 10 schools with Agricultural Management Practice tools and equipment.

The MDE further reported that it had provided 17 foundation phase schools with mathematics kits and 68 secondary schools with Physical Sciences equipment and consumables.
A learner camp had been conducted for 1 281 Grade 12 learners; learners had been provided with 3 000 Physical Sciences Study Guides; and the MDE had supported the participation of 302 learners in the oil and gas career guidance and exhibitions.

In addition, 625 learners had participated in mining and energy career exhibitions and guidance and the MDE had supported 3 997 learners in the Maths, Science and Technology Advancement Competitions.
The MDE further reported that quarterly workshops had been conducted for 112 Subject Advisors and 1 507 teachers trained on pedagogical and subject content knowledge.

6.2.3 Challenges and mitigation With regard to plans to improve spending, the MDE reported that 80 percent of the requests for quotations had been submitted and 50 percent of the quotations received had been processed for orders.
This meant that, even though only 18 percent of the budget had been spent, the number rose to 50 percent when commitments as at 31 July 2022 were included.

The MDE indicated that 30 percent of the 2022/23 budget would be committed by 30 September 2022.

The MDE further reported that follow-ups would be made with suppliers to deliver resources to ensure that the expenditure was at 50 percent or more by September and at 75 percent by 31 December 2022.
The MDE explained that activities for January to March 2023 would be procured and committed by 31 January 2023 to ensure 100 percent spending by the end of the 2022/23 financial year.

10 151 6.1 Western Cape 6.3.1 Financial performance The Western Cape Education Department (WCED) had received R54.7 million (R36.3 million plus a R18.4 million adjustment) for the MST Grant in the 2021/22 financial year; of which it had spent R45.8 million and committed R8.9 million.
For the 2022/23 financial year, the WCED had been allocated R46 million (R37.2 million plus a roll-over amount of R8.9 million) of which it had spent R5.5 million (12 percent) by the end of the first quarter, against the expected benchmark of 25 percent per quarter.
6.3.2 Non-financial performance The WCED submitted that it had supplied 117 schools with subject-specific ICT hardware such as data projectors, 3D printers and visualisers; 100 schools with ICT LAN infrastructure in accordance with the minimum specifications for the Mathematics and Sciences Telematics programme; and 79 schools with subject-specific ICT software such as Auto CAD, Ally CAD and simulation software for technical subjects.
Furthermore, 35 technical and agricultural schools had been supported with maintenance of machinery and equipment and 40 with workshop equipment and consumables for technical subjects; while 80 EGD schools had been supplied with drawing equipment and instruments.
In addition, the WCED had supplied 125 FET and GET MST schools with laboratory equipment and apparatus for Mathematics, Sciences and Technology subjects; 66 laboratories with consumables for Mathematics, Sciences and Technology; 13 agricultural schools with animal handling facilities; 240 GET schools with Life Sciences kits for Life Skills Foundation Phase; and 50 GET schools with Natural Science and Technology kits for intermediate phase (Grades 4-6) and Grade 7.
The WCED further reported that 9 866 learners had registered and participated in mathematics, science and technology olympiads, science fairs, expos, and robotics competitions; 433 learners had participated in the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants (SAICA) camp; 10 000 Maths learners were to receive calculators by the end of August 2022; 1 813 teachers and subject advisors had attended targeted structured training in all MST subjects, as well as for coding and robotics; and 759 teachers and subject advisors had participated in professional development break away workshops and content training in all MST subjects, and attended the Association for Mathematics Education of South Africa (AMESA) Conference and Mathematics Material Development and Life Sciences, Physical Sciences and Technical Sciences content training.
11 152 6.3.3 Challenges and mitigation The WCED reported that, during April and May 2021, a request had been submitted to Supply Chain Management (SCM) for the acquisition of Mathematics, Life Sciences, and Life Skills equipment and calculators via an open tender process.

When no compliant bidder could be found, the tender had been re-advertised and at the end of the process, a three-year contract awarded for each of these services.
Due to these three-year contracts, procurement was expected to continue much faster compared to previous years, and the delivery of the equipment would take place during the financial year in which the funds must be spent.

The WCED further reported that at the end of the 2021/22 financial year, SCM had managed to procure and generate order numbers for all the items, hence the request for the roll-over of R8.9 million.
From this roll-over, items to the value of R4.9 million had already been delivered to schools.

Outstanding items were calculators valued at R2.9 million and Natural Sciences equipment worth R974 000.

Commitments from the suppliers reportedly indicated that delivery of the outstanding equipment would be concluded by the end of August 2022.

7.
7.

Findings and Observations 7.1 The Committee noted that some provinces, including Free State and Limpopo, had not made progress in filling all their funded vacant posts due to the inability to attract suitably qualified and experienced candidates within their respective provinces.

The Committee was concerned about the impact this might have on service delivery programmes.
7.2 The Committee noted that some of the challenges faced by provinces included a very high turnover in care givers and the fact that there was a National Directive, which halted procurement and that the Free State Department of Education had lost all of its itinerant team members in the previous year, resulting in a needs analysis not being done.

7.3 The Committee noted that some provinces had not achieved all their projected quarterly targets and this had led to under-expenditure of grants.
These included non-procurement of storage containers; non-procurement of thermometers, and not training all the targeted care givers, teachers, therapists and officials due to the closure of care centres because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
12 153 7.4 The Committee remained concerned that spending on both the Learners with Profound Intellectual Disabilities Grant and the Maths, Science and Technology Grant was slow at the start of each financial year, with a spike in the fourth quarter, reportedly as a result of the late submission of invoices; and further cautioned against possible fiscal dumping or wastage, which normally occurred towards the end of the financial year.
7.5 The Committee noted that there were currently 9 797 learners who were benefiting through the Learners with Profound Intellectual Disabilities Grant, with some learners still outside the system; and the Department of Basic Education (DBE) undertook to provide a breakdown of the numbers per province.
7.6 The Committee remained concerned that some of the provinces did not report fully on progress with respect to the implementation of the Maths, Science and Technology Grant; these included Gauteng and Limpopo, who had not reported on all the indicators.

7.7 The Committee noted that the DBE also engaged regularly with MECs and heads of departments to determine where there were challenges and to share best practices across the sector.
7.8 The Committee noted that the National Treasury received and published monthly spending reports and further met with the sector quarterly to discuss how challenges could be addressed.

Provincial budget visits, where National Treasury met with the biggest sectors to identify challenges and mitigating measures, were also conducted.

8.
8.

Recommendations 8.1 The provincial education departments of the Free State, Eastern Cape and Limpopo should expedite the filling of funded vacancies as they may continue to impact negatively on service delivery programmes.

The Committee is of the view that this needs urgent action from the sector as part of the interventions to tackle the rising unemployment post- COVID-19.
This should include steps to address the reported high turnover of care givers and the itinerant team members who resigned in the Free State Department of Education.

13 154 8.2 The Department of Basic Education, together with its provincial counterparts, should take steps to urgently address all the issues that led to the non-achievement of quarterly targets, as articulated in the approved departmental plans, within 60 days.
These include the procurement of storage containers, assistive devices and thermometers; and training for care givers, teachers, therapists and officials.
8.3 The Department of Basic Education and its provincial counterparts should take steps to improve quarterly expenditure depending on the grant schedule for both the Learners with Profound Intellectual Disabilities Grant and the Maths, Science and Technology Grant, whilst achieving value for money to avoid an expenditure spike in the fourth quarter; as well as any risk of fiscal dumping or wastage of government resources.
The Committee encourages all provinces and other government entities to put in place mechanisms to ensure that invoices are received from contractors well in advance or on time.

Furthermore, they should ensure that payments are processed within the prescribed 30-day period as required by section 38 (1)(f) of the Public Finance Management Act of 1999, to avoid under-expenditure and non-compliance.
8.4 The Department of Basic Education, together with its provincial counterparts, should ensure that specific steps are taken to reach more beneficiaries with the Learners with Profound Intellectual Disabilities Grant, depending on the availability of resources, as the need is still great.
8.5 Gauteng and Limpopo should take steps to address the issue of poor reporting on performance progress with regards to the implementation of the Maths, Science and Technology Grant, given that they were not able to report on all of their performance indicators for the period under review.

This should be done within 60 days after the adoption of this Report by the House.

The Committee views poor reporting in a very serious light, as it impacts negatively on oversight activities.
Parliament, together with provincial legislatures, will continue to monitor progress.

8.6 The Department of Basic Education should continue to strengthen performance verification and monitoring of mitigation measures, as reported to the Committee, and ensure regular engagements at district, regional and executive level (MECs and heads of departments) to identify challenges and share information across the sector.

This should assist the sector to improve planning processes before the next budget cycle.
14 155 8.7 The Committee is of the view that the National Treasury should continue to intensify its effort to conduct quarterly provincial budget visits with a view to assist the sector to address spending challenges and ensure better management of conditional grants.
8.8 The Committee wishes to stress that the funds allocated are clearly desperately needed by the intended beneficiaries, and that the responsible departments should always have the interests of these beneficiaries foremost in their priorities as they perform their daily tasks.

Report to be considered 15 156