10th anniversary of the National Council of Provinces (NCOP), Cape Town
4 May 2007
Chairperson of the NCOP,
Deputy Chairperson of the NCOP,
Honourable Premiers,
Our Traditional Leaders,
Representatives of the South African Local Government Association (SALGA)
Honourable Members of the House,
Ladies and gentlemen,
I would like to thank you most sincerely for the opportunity you have given
us to be part of this important event in the history the National Council of
Provinces (NCOP).
As we meet to celebrate the 10th Anniversary of the NCOP, which is one of
the key institutions of our democratic state, we are inspired by the role that
this House has played in the creation of a new South Africa, during the decade
of its existence. This important role of the NCOP in the evolution of our young
nation is reflected in the advances we have made in the deepening of our
democratic system.
We meet here today shortly after our nation's celebration of both Freedom
Day and May Day.
The main reason for our people to celebrate these days as they did in the
past week is because these masses, working with our institutions of democracy,
such as the NCOP, have helped to consolidate democracy, giving substance to our
shared objective to attain for all justice and human dignity.
The people of South Africa enthusiastically marked these important days in
our national calendar and thereby told a story of a people which has confidence
in the democratic order, confidence that this democracy will continue to
deliver the things that ensure a better life. These masses know that for our
country to advance forward to a better future we should uphold the
Constitution, the laws, values and ethos that characterise our freedom.
Through its work, the NCOP has helped to ensure that our people are able to
look to the future with confidence, because they know this as a matter of fact
that, since the dawn of democracy, their lives have been slowly but surely
taking a turn for the better.
This palpable improvement in our people's living conditions attests to the
determination of the NCOP and all our democratic institutions effectively to
address the historical challenges that condemned the majority to a life of
misery, marginalisation and indignity for a very long period.
Chairperson,
Those among the Honourable Members who were part of this House during its
first term may remember what we said in 1998 at the NCOP conference on
intergovernmental relations. Among other things we said:
"The NCOP, the product of the Constitution drafted by the elected
Constitutional Assembly, is barely fifteen months old. By any standards, it is
a mere infant which necessarily must suffer from teething problems.
Accordingly, we meet here today to assist in the process of the growth of
this important institution of our democratic life, the NCOP.
But I believe that as we deliberate among ourselves, we must continue to be
informed by the perspective which guided us as we drafted the Constitution
which gave birth to the NCOP.
Two of the most important principles, which were part of that perspective,
were participatory democracy and co-operative governance. We came to these
positions not because we were particularly bright or inventive, but because we
wanted to address the specific circumstances of our country, in a situation in
which we had the possibility to draw on the accumulated wisdom and follies of
the rest of humanity, and because we emerged out of our own definite past."
In February this year the NCOP completed 10 years of existence as an
institution that represents the provinces and the local sphere of government
ensuring that the interests of these two spheres of government also have a
voice with regard to national matters.
In effect, the existence of the NCOP means a better system of representing
the interests of our people.
Honourable Members, this House is a particularly unique creation in our
constitutional system of democracy since it is transversal in character,
stretching across the three spheres of government.
It is at the cutting-edge of intergovernmental relations and serves to
entrench co-operative governance across the three spheres of government as
mandated by the constitution.
It is a vital bridge in our democracy, straddling and drawing together South
African citizens on the one hand and the legislatures, the executive and
administrative organs of the state on the other.
Accordingly, ten years after the inception of this House, the most logical
thing to do is to ask ourselves whether the NCOP has achieved its key
objectives and realised its strategic vision, to assess the impact of its
programmes and to draw the necessary lessons for the future.
One of the teething problems we were concerned about in 1998 was the lack of
appreciation of the role and mandate of the NCOP. The question as we meet today
is whether, the NCOP has managed to address the misunderstandings that may have
occurred among our people about the role and mandate of this important
House.
In this assessment, we must also evaluate the oversight role of the NCOP and
candidly assess the impact this House is having on the development and
reconstruction of our country, especially with respect to the manner in which
provinces and municipalities implement programmes designed to push back the
frontiers of poverty.
Understandably, one must presume that the NCOP would take advantage of this
remarkable opportunity in its history to mark its achievements and to engage
with identified or new challenges.
In this regard, I am informed that, as part of the preparations for this
important event in the history of the institution, there has been some
internally detailed work by the NCOP to look into the role it has played with
respect to the following:
* intergovernmental fiscal relations
* social transformation with a focus on education, health and social
development
* socio-economic development with specific regard to integrated development
planning and small business development.
I am certain that the outcome of this review process would provide members
of this House with an indication of how far the NCOP has gone in terms of
realising its mandate as far as its contribution towards the betterment of the
lives of our people is concerned.
Shortly after this House was established, one of the challenges you faced
was to refocus the work of the institution to ensure that its operations are
consistent with the role and mandate expressed in the Constitution.
The Constitution states your role as being to represent the provinces to
ensure that provincial interests are taken into account in the national sphere
of government.
The NCOP does this mainly by participating in the national legislative
process and by providing a national forum for public consideration of issues
affecting provinces.
Has this been effective? Is the NCOP able to make the necessary
interventions as mandated by the provinces, or is this House seen as a poor
cousin of the National Assembly?
I think it is important for this House to look at some of the issues that
are often viewed as inhibiting the institution in terms of its work and
regarding the challenges of raising its public profile.
Some of these weaknesses could be legislative while others may be
institutional.
The question is whether an interrogation of these issues will help you
identify some of the challenges to put the NCOP in a better position to play
its role in a more meaningful way.
I understand that this House has established a special commission to explore
and debate these institutional and legislative matters and I trust that this
exercise will benefit all of us.
When doing this, the NCOP has to have a better understanding of provincial
views when considering matters before it and ensure that these views are
correctly represented.
I am very happy that the NCOP has responded very well to the challenge of
participatory democracy with your programme of ensuring that our public
representatives are rooted in the constituencies that have elected them. In
this regard, this House has correctly introduced a provincial week, during
which Members of the provincial delegations in the NCOP visit their respective
provinces to work at the local level, together with their counterparts in the
provincial legislatures.
This democratic system of governance, of taking parliament to the people,
has yielded positive results, enabling the masses of our people to interact
with their government, to raise issues of concern and suggest ways and means to
address their local challenges.
In addition, it has enabled Members of this House to experience the actual
conditions of ordinary people in local communities and articulate them during
interactions both at committee and plenary levels.
Chairperson, I trust that this has helped with the task of understanding and
consolidating the work of the NCOP in a much more focused way.
We are indeed proud, despite the work that still needs to be done further to
consolidate our democratic institutions, that the NCOP has, through this form
of interactive governance, further deepened our democracy, for the benefit of
all South Africans.
We have maintained from the beginning of the democratic state that
accountability and responding to the needs of the people would be strategic
features of our system of governance, with these values readily embraced by our
public representatives.
Consistent with this the NCOP also initiated one of its important programmes
by developing the programme of Taking Parliament to the People.
Again, this was a demonstration of our duty as public representatives to
facilitate public participation in Parliament and ensure that our people have
full knowledge of the work of the NCOP.
I have seen the overwhelming grassroots response to this initiative as
evidenced by the huge number of participants among ordinary citizens during
your sittings in different parts of the country.
Indeed, the enthusiasm which your programme has generated among our people
and the need for further involvement of our communities in our democratic
processes, confirms the fact that our democracy matures every day.
I am certain that through this programme this House has been able to:
* inform citizens about the work of Parliament
* provide citizens with an opportunity to see Parliament in action and be able
to speak to its Members, and Members of the Executive, directly
* make citizens aware of the impact that public participation can have on
political processes
* enhance the ability of the NCOP to oversee the implementation of national
policies and programmes.
Further, I understand that this House has adopted what it calls Programme
2009, to achieve the following objectives:
* increased oversight work that is guided by inputs from the provinces and
local government regarding their needs and interests
* promotion of public participation with a clear impact on service delivery and
the work of Parliament
* improved support to local government through closely monitoring government
programmes at the municipal level
* improved intergovernmental relations as a result of the NCOP's sustained
contribution to building the system of co-operative government.
I am confident that this programme will further ensure that the NCOP
continues to occupy a central place in the on-going evolution of our
democracy.
Chairperson,
A survey conducted by Markinor and the University of Stellenbosch in
November and December of last year found that ninety-five percent of the
citizens of this country are proud to be South Africans. These people also
believe in democracy as a system of governance and have confidence that our
democracy will develop positively in the future.
According to the survey 19 out of 20 respondents said they were either
'very' or 'quite proud' to be South African.
Our people would not assume this positive stance if our country was evolving
in a wrong direction. I am pleased to say that all of us are proudly South
African partly because of the quality of our democracy, towards which the NCOP
has made an immense contribution.
As we know, the NCOP came into effect on 6 February 1997, following the
adoption of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa by the
Constitutional Assembly on 8 May 1996. This is the constitution whose
implementation has made the overwhelming majority of the people of this country
to be proudly South African. It is a constitution that the people of this
country are confident will guide this country today and in the future. This is
the constitution that all of us, members of the NCOP, and all the citizens of
this country are prepared to defend at all times.
As we celebrate 10 years of the existence of the NCOP let us pause to
reflect hard on the road we have travelled.
The challenges ahead of us oblige us to draw important lessons from the 10
year experience of the existence of this National Council, the better to
clarify our vision, redouble our efforts to accelerate the process of
socio-economic transformation to attain the goal of a better life for all.
Thank you.
Issued by: The Presidency
4 May 2007
