Ad Hoc Joint Committee on Probing Violence against Foreign Nationals fails to adopt its report

The Parliamentary Ad Hoc Joint Committee on Probing Violence against Foreign Nationals sat yesterday at 5pm, supposedly for the last time. Except that of the twenty Members of the Committee, only six showed up so it was unable to form the quorum necessary to adopt its report. 

My DA colleague Sej Motau MP and I were the only National Assembly Members to attend the meeting.

Members' non-attendance has been a constant problem since the Committee was formed in May, following the spate of violent attacks against foreign nationals (SA's euphemism for migrants from other countries) in Johannesburg and Durban in January, March and April. I have asked the Committee secretary to send me the attendance register from all our meetings since June. This will be very revealing. 

Some weeks ago the Committee was forced to ask for a month’s extension from its original deadline of August 31^st. Now the Committee will have to ask for another extension. In the meantime, the Committee will lapse on September 30^th without completing its business.

This sends a very strong but unfortunate signal that Parliament does not care about the issue of violence against migrants. The Committee must be seen to have a voice on this issue, and take its responsibilities seriously. 

The plight of migrants and refugees has hit international headlines with Europe grappling with its greatest migrant crisis since World War II. 

This morning I met the Hon Ruth Bhengu, one of the two Co-Chairs of the Committee, and asked her to do everything in her power to ensure the Committee re-convenes at the earliest opportunity to consider and adopt its report.

For interested readers of my blog, see my opinion piece published in The Sunday Tribune here, written after our oversight visit to KZN in July