Committees in Brief

As the year draws to an end, more than 200 committee meetings (virtual, hybrid and physical) took place in November. These meetings considered the annual reports of government departments’ and their entities’, they considered Bills, and listened to government departments on a range of issues to ensure accountability.

The Portfolio Committee on Basic Education wished the more than one million candidates enrolled for the 2020 National Senior Certificate (NSC) well for the examinations.

Committee Chairperson, Ms Bongiwe Mbinqo-Gigaba, said: “We would like to wish all candidates the best of luck with the upcoming final examinations. We urge them to continue working hard and to keep their focus. These examinations are the culmination of the last 12 years of schooling. We know it has been a challenging academic year, but we support you no matter what.”

The combined examinations for National Senior Certificate (NSC) candidates makes this the largest cohort, 1 058 699 candidates, sitting for the examinations from 5 November to 15 December 2020. The June examinations for both full- and parttime candidates had to be cancelled due to the outbreak of Covid-19.

The Standing Committee on Public Accounts (Scopa) has urged the South African Police Service (SAPS) to heighten cooperation with other relevant state organs and government departments in the fight against corruption within SAPS. SAPS appeared before the committee recently to present a progress report on cases of supply chain management corruption involving SAPS officials. The committee welcomed the work SAPS has done internally to reduce corruption while acknowledging General Khehla Sitole for the significant strides taken and urging him to sustain the momentum of cleaning the rot in the SAPS.

The Select Committee on Petitions and Executive Undertakings received a briefing from the Minister of Social Development, Ms Lindiwe Zulu, on progress made in respect of commitments she made in her budget vote speech in the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) on 22 July 2020.

The committee described the update received from both the

Minister and the departmental Director-General as “thorough and detailed”. Furthermore, it commended the department for implementing their commitments and for playing a pivotal role in pushing back the frontiers of poverty.

The committee also expressed its displeasure and disappointment over the corruption that affected the department’s good work when it implemented its programmes, especially of food distribution to vulnerable people during the hard lockdown.

The Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Police, Ms Tina Joemat-Pettersson, condemned the barbaric killing of seven people and injury of two more in Gugulethu, Cape Town. The Chairperson called on the South African Police Service (SAPS) to leave no stone unturned in investigating these heinous crimes in an effort to bring the perpetrators to book.

“The killings are concerning in the context of the worrying upward trend in murders in general in the country. Also, the shooting follows similar killings of six people in Khayelitsha in September, five people in Joe Slovo in October and the killing of seven people in Phillipi in July,” Ms Joemat-Pettersson said.

The Chairperson emphasised the importance of collaboration between the police and the community to fight crime in our communities. The situation on the Cape Flats requires all stakeholders to rally together and fight crime head-on. Furthermore, the Chairperson also called on the SAPS and its Anti-Gang Unit to come up with strategies to prevent such attacks, especially as the festive season draws near.

The Portfolio Committee on Higher Education, Science and Technology has voiced its concerns regarding the delays in the finalisation of the audit of the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS).

The committee was briefed by the Auditor-General (AG) on the audit outcomes of the Department of Higher Education and Training and all entities falling within its portfolio. The committee was informed by the AG that there is a delay in finalising the NSFAS’s audit, largely due to the unnecessarily long turnaround time taken by the NSFAS to provide the information requested by the auditors.

Committee Chairperson Mr Philly Mapulane said it was disappointing that this is the second year in a row that the audit of the NSFAS’s financial statements is delayed, mainly as a result of the inefficiencies within the entity.

The Portfolio Committee on International Relations and Cooperation has called on the Department of International Relations and Cooperation (Dirco) to account for an unexplained R188 million in an account, as identified in its annual report.

The committee Chairperson, Ms Tandi Mahambehlala, said she would follow due process until the matter of the unexplained R188 million is brought to the attention of the Standing Committee on Public Accounts.

The committee received a briefing on the department and its entity, the African Renaissance Fund’s, audit outcomes. The department has ongoing problems with irregular expenditure, fruitless and wasteful expenditure.

The Portfolio Committee on Human Settlements, Water and Sanitation has called on the Department of Human Settlements to find a balance between achieving targets and an unqualified audit opinion. The committee considered the department’s annual report as part of the Budget Review and Recommendation process.

“The committee was unanimous in welcoming the unqualified audit opinion for the department, but were similarly critical that the department only achieved 63% of its set targets. While we welcomed the achievement in relations to good governance, we are concerned that tangible service delivery is not happening with the associated