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The Portfolio Committee on Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA) today received briefings from the CRL Rights Commission and the Municipal Demarcation Board (MDB) on their 2021/2022 annual reports. The committee has expressed its appreciation to the CRL Rights Committee for receiving a clean audit and has called on the entity to maintain that and continue on the clean governance path.
 

The committee has expressed an interest in the culmination of conversations on cultural issues that the CRL Rights Commission will be facilitating. The committee has indicated that it would like to see the national indaba on initiation that the CRL Rights Commission is planning for the end of November 2022 taking place.  The committee has advised the CRL Rights Commission to improve on matters of conflict resolution and be more visible on resolving conflict around cultural matters. The commission should also improve on its public awareness campaigns as it remains largely unknown by the ordinary people on the ground.
 
After the committee’s oversight visit to the Eastern Cape in July this year, it instructed the National Initiation Oversight Committee to prepare for the upcoming season of initiation happening at the end of the year. The committee has expressed its optimism that a national indaba on initiation will surely benefit everyone that is affected.
 
The committee has also highlighted the importance of developing a strategy in ensuring that all official languages are developed in an equal manner to encourage and promote social cohesion amongst South Africans.

The committee also received a briefing from the MDB on their annual report for the 2021/22 financial year and it is pleased that the MDB has received consecutive clean audit outcomes for the last four years. This kind of outcome makes the committee confident that the leadership of the institution is performing its duties well and understands what needs to be done.

The committee has noted the areas presented by the MDB that demand support from its side and any other stakeholder that is required to assist. The committee wants the MDB to improve its footprint at the ward level because this is where it matters the most, and minimise the outsourcing of the Board’s work to municipalities.

Issued by the Parliamentary Communication Services on behalf of the Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs , Fikile Xasa