Legacy Report for the Ad-hoc Committee on Energy Crisis

Meeting report

The Chairperson, Mr C Fry (DA), announced that this was the final Committee meeting of the year and term. He then asked if there was a quorum, which was confirmed. Expressing satisfaction, he requested a moment of silence for quiet reflection. He thanked everyone and opted not to switch off his camera due to bandwidth concerns, allowing the meeting to proceed.

He instructed the Members to introduce themselves for the record, starting with himself as Christopher Fry, the Chairperson of the Committee, before proceeding to Member introductions.

Following the introductions, he expressed his belief that the Members were familiar with the virtual meeting rules of engagement and proceeded to the agenda items. The Committee was to consider and adopt the Committee report and meeting minutes.

Committee’s Legacy Report

The Chairperson requested the report to be displayed and reminded Members that supporting documents had been previously circulated. He then systematically went through each page of the report, inviting Members to note any concerns or additions.

After completing the review of all pages, he confirmed the end of the report at page 50, with a list of acronyms on pages 51 and 52. Finally, he invited Members to raise any additional concerns or make any further contributions.

Mr A Van der Westhuizen (DA) expressed gratitude to the Chairperson and acknowledged the issues raised by other Members. He suggested that the Committee might need to supplement the current state of the report with some recommendations. He indicated that he had a few recommendations of his own to propose to the Committee for consideration. Firstly, he proposed that the Committee recommend to the next Parliament that appropriate action be taken regarding the ongoing energy crisis in South Africa and the provinces' responses to it. Secondly, he suggested that best practices and extensive experience gained by various entities in both the private and public sectors, including local governments, should be shared to address the severe crisis in South Africa. These were his initial two recommendations for consideration.

Ms D Baartman (DA) moved to adopt the report.

Mr G Bosman (DA) seconded.

The Chairperson announced that the report had been adopted with amendments. He then requested the Procedural Officer to distribute the amended report to the Members for their records.

Committee minutes

Expressing gratitude to the Members, the Chairperson moved on to the next item on the agenda, which was to consider and adopt the draft Committee minutes of previous meetings, totalling nine sets of minutes. He assumed that Members had already reviewed the minutes prior to the meeting and inquired whether they wished to adopt them collectively as a batch or individually. He invited the Members to indicate their preference.

The Chairperson specified the dates for the record:

• 02 August 2023
• 11 August 2023
• 16 August 2023
• 30 August 2023
• 13 September 2023
• 27 September 2023
• 3 November 2023
• 17 November 2023
• 7 February 2024

He then requested Members to move for the adoption of these minutes.

Various Members moved for the adoption of the minutes with no objections.

The minutes were duly adopted.

Closing remarks

The Chairperson expressed gratitude to all the Members for their valuable input and engagement throughout the fourth and fifth sessions of the Sixth Parliament, particularly on such critical matters. He thanked them for their active participation in reviewing the minutes and liaising with various departments and municipalities, ensuring the interests of the people of the Western Cape were prioritised in addressing the energy crisis.

Acknowledging the contributions of the support staff, including the procedural officer, he expressed heartfelt appreciation for their assistance.

Concluding the meeting, he extended well wishes for the upcoming six weeks and for a safe and fair election. He urged the Seventh Parliament to continue the Committee's commendable work. With that, he adjourned the meeting, thanking all Members once again.