Parliament, Wednesday, 21 February 2024 – The Portfolio Committee on Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development received a briefing yesterday from the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development on a bilateral agreement between South Africa and Cuba to forge joint research and development strategies on animal and plant health. According to the department’s presentation, if the objectives of this agreement are achieved, it will have a positive spinoff for South Africa’s Agriculture and Agro-processing Master Plan, which aims to unlock the economic potential of the agricultural industry’s value chain. The agreement has been ratified by Cuba, but South Africa has yet to do so. The Chairperson of the committee, Inkosi Zwelivelile Mandela, asked why it has taken the department so long to ratify such a significant research and development pact. In addition, during the engagement it became clear that the department had failed to furnish the committee with various necessary documents relating to the agreement. Members of the committee asked questions about whether the agreement has any financial implications. They also asked why this agreement was referred to the committee while others have not. Other questions concerned the agreement’s legal standing and whether the agreement will safeguard the intellectual property rights currently in force in the animal and plant professions in South Africa. The department’s Deputy Director-General, Ms Kwena Komape, assured the committee that the department will provide it with the explanatory memorandum and the legal opinion the department has canvassed on this agreement. She further stated that the financial implications and details of its nature and scope have not yet been determined because the technical committee that will consider all these things has not yet been established, as the agreement has not been ratified. On why this agreement was brought before the committee when many others were not, the department’s Director-General, Mr Mooketsa Ramasodi, replied that at the beginning of the sixth Parliament there was a request that Parliament should ratify all departmental agreements. He also explained that the department’s process has taken so long because of the many steps that have to be completed in ratifying a technical agreement between two countries. On safeguarding South Africa’s intellectual property rights in this agreement, he stated that any material transfer of intellectual property rights would follow the prescripts that govern such undertakings. He apologised for the department’s failure to submit the documents required and said this would be rectified swiftly. Inkosi Mandela reiterated that these documents are critical for the committee’s processing and consideration of the agreement. He explained that the committee must solicit its own parliamentary legal opinion on the matter to ensure that such a document passes legal and constitutional requirements governing Parliament’s legislative processes. ISSUED BY THE PARLIAMENTARY COMMUNICATION SERVICES ON BEHALF OF THE CHAIRPERSON OF THE PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE, LAND REFORM AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT, NKOSI ZWELIVELILE MANDELA. For media enquiries, please contact the committee’s Media Officer: Name: Mr Abel Mputing Parliamentary Communication Services Cell: 081 503 1840 Email: amputing@parliament.gov.za
Arrange a tour