IWQS Home Page

Chapter 9: ADVISORY COMMITTEES

This Chapter empowers the Minister to establish advisory committees. Each advisory committee will be established for a particular purpose, and it is therefore possible for a variety of advisory committees to be established with different purposes and functions. Although primarily advisory in nature, such committees may exercise powers which are delegated to them. The Minister may amend the functions of an advisory committee, or disestablish it. Certain existing advisory committees will continue to function as though they were advisory committees established under this Act.

99.: Establishment of advisory committees

99.(1): The Minister may -
99.(1)(a): establish an advisory committee;
99.(1)(b): give it a name or change its name;
99.(1)(c): determine its purpose and functions or effect amendments thereto;
99.(1)(d): make appointments to the committee, including the chairperson and deputy chairperson;
99.(1)(e): remove persons from the committee; and
99.(1)(f): disestablish an advisory committee.
99.(2): Officials of the Department may be members of an advisory committee.
99.(3): A member of a committee may be remunerated as directed by the Minister, with the concurrence of the Minister of Finance.
99.(4): An act performed in good faith by a committee is valid, despite any failure to comply with a formal procedural requirement.
99.(5): The Department may supply administrative support services to a committee.
99.(6): An official of the Department who is not a member of the committee, if so directed by the Director-General, may attend a meeting of a committee, but may not vote at the meeting.
99.(7): The Minister in appointing a member of a committee, must consider -
99.(7)(a): the powers and duties of the committee;
99.(7)(b): the need for the committee to represent various relevant interests; and
99.(7)(c): the expertise necessary for the committee to exercise its powers and perform its duties effectively.

100.: Regulations regarding advisory committees

The Minister may by regulation establish terms of reference and any other rules concerning the membership, powers and duties and operation of a committee.

101.: Transitional provisions relating to advisory committees

101.(1): The National Water Advisory Council established by section 3A of the Water Act, 1956 (Act No. 54 of 1956), the Advisory Committee on Safety of Dams established by section 9C(5)(a)(i) of the Water Act, 1956, and any advisory committee established under section 68(1) of the Water Act, 1956, must be regarded as being an advisory committee contemplated in this Act.
101.(2): Subject to the Minister's powers under section 99 -
101.(2)(a): the name, powers and duties of a committee or body referred to in subsection (1) remain the same as they were immediately before the commencement of this Act;
101.(2)(b): any provision of the Water Act, 1956, or a regulation or notice issued under that Act regulating any matter contemplated in section 99, continues to apply as if it were a regulation made under section 100; and
101.(2)(c): any person holding office in a committee or body referred to in subsection (1) immediately before the commencement of this Act continues in office until the expiration of that person's term of appointment or until the committee or body is disestablished, whichever happens sooner.