Deputy Chairperson,
Chairperson of the NCOP,
Premier of Limpopo,
Our Deputy Ministers present,
All permanent and non-permanent delegates
And the SA Local Government Association, Salga, delegate to the NCOP.
It is indeed an unfortunate coincidence that we have this celebratory debate when the Chief Whip of this House, uMama Ntwanambi is in the cold, mourning the sad loss of her husband. We pray that the Lord God gives her strength and courage at this difficult time.
This occasion of celebrating 15 years of the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) and what it has meant for South Africans presents us with an opportunity to reflect on the activities of this House, mirrored against the defined vision for Parliament, which says:
To build an effective Peoples’ Parliament that is responsive to the needs of the people and that is driven by the ideal of realising a better quality of life for all the people of South Africa.
The NCOP is a representative House of Parliament, not merely on a political basis, but as part of national Parliament. The NCOP brings all nine provinces together as well as organised local government into one. Although delegates are drawn on a party-political basis and have to project the views and aspirations of those parties, they all know that at this House, their voices are more representative voices of their constituencies. For 15 years, this House has been seen to give priority to the preferences of the people.
I can assure hon. delegates that we, as South Africans and its people of course, can say “together as one, under the leadership of the NCOP”. The house has truly lived up to project a Peoples’ Parliament character, as directed in the vision of Parliament. The project, Taking Parliament to the People, as referred to by the Chairperson, is one flagship programme of the NCOP. It provided a one-stop platform in terms of which the people had access to engage with both Parliament and government at the three spheres.
The people of the Western Cape had an opportunity to participate in the engagement programme organised by the NCOP between 29 October and 2 November in 2007. They focused on themes under the overall theme of "Masijule Ngengxoxo Mzansi” [Let’s deepen the debate]. It encouraged people to debate amongst themselves and with government at all three spheres. I can indicate that that debate, and the deepening of the debate, is still as relevant today as it will always be in this province and other provinces.
The people also discussed issues related to co-operative governance; poverty alleviation; agriculture as a tool for poverty alleviation; structures to address the challenges faced by children, youth and people with disabilities; women empowerment; water supply; the roll-out and impact of the Expanded Public Works Programmes, and other related initiatives. Guided by the same focus areas, the NCOP facilitated oversight visits to projects in the community. It was not just a question of talking for the sake of talking, but a question of saying yes, let’s get our brains to sweat as we think about and debate these issues. Let’s go out practically on the ground and see what is happening.
Looking at this interaction, there is no doubt that as a conscience of the nation, the NCOP lived up to what is expected of them: to empower the people of the Western Cape with the knowledge derived from the information they received. When we note that the engagement that took place in October and November 2009 was, in fact, the ninth engagement which means the NCOP had been to the other eight provinces by that time we can then recognise the impact nine times. If we look at the different issues that were discussed from province to province, it confirms that for 15 years the NCOP has been known to the people; there is no space between the people and Parliament. There is no space between the people and government. Through the NCOP, we are cemented together as one.
Looking at this interaction, it is a merit-worthy observation that the NCOP provided the necessary practical education to government-people engagements and open debates on issues that affect the people. We can use this, of course, in our constituencies as delegates and also as deployed people with constituency offices all over the country. Looking at this interaction, we can proudly say that the NCOP succeeded in exposing the reality that in a democracy, which we are, it is more about the people in the act of governance and not more about the structures themselves.
The lessons provided through the engagement led by the NCOP in the project of 2007 are still relevant today. We still have to be led in writing further success stories for ways and means to address the triple challenges of unemployment, poverty and inequality. We must allow our brains to sweat to accomplish our objective of creating a better life for all the people of South Africa. Nothing can beat engagement.
In these times when we witness public protests from point to point, and we see people so intolerant towards one another and government, and realise the unfortunate spicing of protests with violence, we need such lessons, as provided by the NCOP, through the project Taking Parliament to the People, to further deepen the debate to find solutions to today’s challenges. It was the NCOP that brought us together during the Local Government Week of 31 July to 3 August this year to engage on matters with the purpose of strengthening the local government sphere for effective service delivery. Once more, that event cemented the achievements the NCOP has been recording since its inception: to bring the three spheres of government under one roof to discuss issues of common interest.
We had an opportunity to participate in the said event and we made a commitment to work together with all the structures in the areas. This would ensure that the issues raised in the Local Government Week engagements were not in vain. We recited the commitments as punctuated in the manner we resolved in the beginning, to drive an institutionalised and projectised local government turnaround strategy in the areas of accelerated service delivery, enhanced good governance, sound financial management, massified and sustained infrastructure roll-out programmes and an intensified fight against corruption.
We committed and made a call for all of us to work together across the three spheres. This would support the local governance mechanisms, to a point where the people will recognise the work we do under the leadership of the NCOP. It couldn’t have been any other institution. It couldn’t have been any other organisation, any other House, but the NCOP, to bring us together, to talk about those issues.
In that call to work together, we said that, supported by the NCOP, ours is to provide support to the municipalities, to the point where the people refer to all municipalities in the following way: My municipality is my service. My municipal worker is my future. My municipal union is my partner. My Salga is my collective voice. My Demarcation Board is my reliable compass. My Municipal Infrastructure Support Agency, Misa, is our solutions. My traditional institution is my pride. My Department of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Cogta, is my intergovernmental relations facilitator. My community is my call. Of course, my NCOP is my inter-governmental relations authority.
There is a very important role that the NCOP has been playing and continues to do so, as duly mandated by the Constitution. This is as an authority in case the executive play their role in support, monitoring and interventions in the activities of municipalities, in terms of section 139 of the Constitution. We are taking stock of municipalities placed under section 139 administration. We are taking stock in terms of the reasons that made it possible or that necessitated that such things happened. We are taking stock in terms of whether those who placed those municipalities under section 139 have lived up to what the Constitution dictates to them to do. At the end of the day, we are also looking at whether that intervention resulted in a turnaround strategy. [Interjections.] Our understanding is that it has to be in the spirit of support, support, and nothing but support.
As we celebrate the NCOP, this is one of the issues that we have to give attention to so that we neither take short cuts nor abdicate our responsibilities in this regard. This celebration takes place during the debate on the Auditor-General’s report on audit outcomes for municipalities that reflects, of course, that we have more work to do. We don’t have more time to reflect on this at this celebration. The commitment we can make is that we are just as readily available as a call from the NCOP to come and address this House.
As I conclude, I want to state that yes, the NCOP has for 15 years carried its weight to promote the values we set for our Parliament. Among other things, we said:
Our values guide the management of Parliament. Our values are formed by that which we treasure and hold dear. It forms the foundation that give rise to policies.
We also said many other things about ourselves.
Thank you very much, Deputy Chair, and thanks to the House.
