Programme directors
Premier of Gauteng
Speaker of the Provincial Legislature
Members of the Executive
Members of the NCOP and the Provincial Legislature
Mayor and Speaker of the City of Tshwane
Provincial chairperson of SALGA
Councillors
Ladies and gentlemen.
I welcome the opportunity to make closing remarks at this opening ceremony of the NCOP Taking Parliament to the People programme, whose purpose is to give context and background to the engagements we will be having this week.
Let me start by thanking you all for responding to our call to converge here at Soshanguve to talk about matters that impact on our lives as citizens of this City and the province.
I also thank the leadership from the province for their great support to the programme since we started with preparations. Without our cooperative effort the preparations would not have been a success.
The NCOP Taking Parliament to the People programme was established in 2002 for the purpose of enhancing public participation. This is important given that the NCOP was established by the Constitution to represent the interests of the provinces and to provide a national forum for public consideration of issues affecting the provinces.
Section 72 of the Constitution enjoins the NCOP to facilitate public involvement in the legislative and other processes. It further requires the NCOP to conduct its business in an open manner and hold its sittings and those of its committees in public. Furthermore, Section 66 of the Constitution authorises the NCOP to require a Cabinet member or Deputy Minister, or an official in the national or provincial executive, to attend its meetings or those of its committees.
The Taking Parliament to the People programme is in pursuance of this mandate.
Throughout the years we have also used the programme to educate the people about government matters and how they could participate in shaping our democracy. We need informed citizenry in order to build a strong democracy.
At the beginning of this term, government committed itself to deliver on key priorities.
These are:
1) Health
2) Education
3) Fight against crime
4) Creation of decent work and sustainable livelihoods
5) Rural development, including land reform, and food production and security.
We are interested to hear from you what you think has been achieved and also where there are still challenges. As you know, development is a process. Transformation and development is even a much more complex process. We want to hear from you because as Parliament we represent your interests.
As you reflect, you must keep in mind where we come from since 1994 when we started to build a new nation.
For example, while we note the challenges that we still face here and in the rest of the country, we also note that many inhabitants of this City live in safe and secure environments, and have access to:
1) economic opportunities,
2) a mix of safe and secure housing and tenure types,
3) reliable and affordable basic services,
4) educational, entertainment and cultural activities; and
5) health, welfare and police services.
However, we do not want just many but all the people to have access to these as part our freedom.
Among other things, we note that drug-abuse is a cross-cutting issue that requires government, together with the people, to fight it so that it can come to an end. There is nobody who is born a drug abuser. We acquire these wrong tendencies along the way. We have been told that in some communities around here people go for rehabilitation but when they come back they go back to drug abuse. Why?
The country has a National Drug Master Plan to combat substance abuse. The three spheres of government need to integrate plans and work together, and with the people, in ensuring that we coordinate services and deal harshly with the people that benefit from drug abuse.
In preparation for the proceedings of this week, we have undertaken a number of activities, including:
1) field research,
2) preliminary visits by committees to conduct oversight, and
3) a public meeting in Hammanskraal to discuss the agenda.
Relevant government departments in the national and provincial spheres have been informed about the issues that people have raised during these interactions in order to come and report publicly during the course of the week, starting from today.
Flowing from these engagements, and having listened to you, we have developed the programme as follows:
1) Today, shortly from now, we will have a public hearing on Local Government, Human Settlements and Water issues until lunch. We will continue the session after lunch until 17h00. We will also start visiting some of the identified sites this afternoon.
2) Tomorrow morning, we will have a public hearing on Health and Social Development. In the afternoon at 14h00, we will deal with Education, Sport, Recreation, Arts and Culture.
3) On Wednesday morning, we will deal with Police and in the afternoon we will focus on matters relating to Women, Children and People with Disabilities.
4) On Thursday morning, we will have a public hearing on Economic Development and Youth matters. In the afternoon, we will focus on Agriculture, Land Reform and Water. After the session the NCOP will sit as a House of Parliament and deal with its business. You are invited to witness how we debate and take decisions on matters in Parliament.
5) On Friday, we will have a formal sitting of the NCOP for the Annual Address by the President of the Republic. We will deal with matters that affect you here as well as in other parts of the country. Premiers of the other provinces will be here to participate in the debate and give reports to the NCOP on the work being done in their respective provinces.
After this week, we will develop a report on all the issues that have been raised and do the necessary follow-up through the relevant structures. It will facilitate the processing of the issues that would have come from you for purposes of consideration by the current and the next Parliament. The Provincial Legislature and the City Council will be expected to follow up on the issues that relate to their areas of competence.
We will continue to monitor how government responds to the issues raised here. We will see to it that government leaders keep the promises that they shall have made to you. We will not forget about you. This is a continuing process of engagement.
I thank you
For media enquiries, media accreditation and interview with the Chairperson, please contact:
Nolizwi Magwagwa
Cell: 083 313 1323
E-mail: nmagwagwa@parliament.gov.za
Modise Kabeli
Cell: 082 077 4682
E-mail: mkabeli@parliament.gov.za
Manelisi Ntsodo
Cell: 083 985 7047
E-mail: mntsodo@parliament.gov.za
