Issued by: Office of The President
The Cabinet held the first of its scheduled fortnightly meetings of the year in the Union Buildings this morning. The meeting follows the first round of Cabinet Committee meetings held last week. The Cabinet and its Committees will be meeting in Pretoria for the rest of this month, and with Parliament reconvening in the first week of February the Cabinet meetings will move to Cape Town from Wednesday 4 February.
On Thursday and Friday an extended Cabinet meeting, attended by Ministers as well as Deputy Ministers, will be held. These extended Cabinet meetings, which are held at least once a year, are utilised primarily for the discussion of strategy and broad policy and to plan the broad framework for the Government's plan of action for the year ahead.
With the Parliament planning to complete its legislative programme by late September this year, the Cabinet started giving attention to the drafting of legislation from early on. At today's meeting of the Cabinet, a number of Bills were discussed and approved for submission to Parliament. These include:
The Post Office Additional Appropriation Bill
The Department of Communications Rationalisation Bill
The National Water Bill
The Magistrates' Courts (Assessors) Amendment Bill
The Medical, Dental and Supplementary Health Service Professions Amendment Bill
The Government's programme of transformation is proceeding and towards the fourth year of the term of Government this process is being consolidated and accelerated. The Cabinet was briefed on, discussed and took note of a number of measures in this regard. The Cabinet noted:
The White Paper on the Road Accident Fund
The Green Paper for a Minerals and Mining Policy for South Africa
The National Forestry Action Programme
The White Paper on Affirmative Action for the Public Service, and Certain Projects established in the Department of Public Service and Administration
The Cabinet further approved the Accession to the International Convention on Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping for Fishing Personnel; as well as the Signing of a Protocol between the Governments of the Republics of South Africa and Mozambique regarding a Joint Venture for the Provision of a "One-Stop" Border Control Post at Lebombo/Resssano Garcia.
The Cabinet approved the appointment of Ms Motlatjie Anne Letsebe to fill a vacancy on the Board of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), as well as the following appointments to posts:
Advocate S Nogxina to the post of Director-General: Department of Mineral and Energy Affairs; Mr Dipak Dhiru Patel to the post of Deputy Director-General; Land Transport; Mr J K Netshitenzhe to the post of Chief Executive Officer of the Government Communication and Information System; and Mr Y Abba Omar to the post of Deputy Chief Executive Officer of the Government Communication and Information System.
Further details and information will be made available by the relevant Ministries and Departments.
Secretary of the Cabinet 21 January 1998.