Date: 02/05/2007

Source: Department of Defense

Title: Lekota: National Council of Provinces summit

Speech by honourable Mosiuoa Lekota Minister of Defence and First Chairperson of the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) on the occasion of the NCOP summit on Intergovernmental Relations and Co-Operative Governance, Cape Town

Chairperson
Minister of Provincial and Local Government
Members of Parliament present
Mayors and councillors
Members of the Tripartite Alliance
Distinguished guests
Members of the media
Ladies and gentlemen
Comrades

Our Parliament consists of two Houses, the National Assembly and the National Council of Provinces (NCOP).

When we abolished the Senate we had realised that it was firstly, based on the British's House of Lords system and secondly, was not effective and appropriate for what we needed to achieve in South Africa, namely a co-operative form of government that gave the people greater access to governance and delivery of services to themselves.

It is this orientation that informed the mind of the drafters of our basic law, the National Constitution. Having encapsulated that spirit in the Constitution, the challenge was to put in place structures that would enable us, working with the masses of our people, to deliver that co-operative governance.

Therefore, the establishment of the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) and Provincial Legislatures are some of the transformational innovations that we brought about in order to deepen democracy and to ensure broad-based popular participation in the legislative and governance processes of our country.

With regard to the Senate the question we tried to answer was what to substitute it (the Senate) with, that would enable us to achieve that objective.

After studying various constitutions of other countries we finally settled for the German Bundesraat model. Even that model had to be adapted to our specific South African conditions. The product became the National Council of Provinces. As we will probably conclude at the end of this summit, the NCOP is a sphere of government that is yet to realise its full development.

Provincial Legislatures, therefore, play an important role in that they are platforms for debating and congealing the mandates and positions their delegates must present to the NCOP. If this was not so, delegates could simply present what they believed was right and not what the people of that province want.

The National Council of Provinces (NCOP) therefore presents a platform for the entertainment and debates of the specific viewpoints of individual provinces. But it is also in the NCOP that provinces' and the National Assembly members' views meet as members of the National Assembly (Members of the Executive) present and debate issues and explain their programmes.

In the drafting of the National Constitution it was realised quite early in the process that in order to give effect to the broadening of democracy across the land, there were certain pieces of legislation which could not be discussed without the prior input of the provinces. Section 76 bills fall into that category. The debate on these bills starts in the NCOP before being referred to the National Assembly.

Legislation is passed by the NCOP if five of the nine provinces vote in favour except if the bill is a Constitutional Amendment (Section 74 bills) in which case it requires the approval of six provincial delegations before going to the National Assembly for debate and approval. Provinces, through the NCOP, therefore play an important and active part in the legislative process of the country.

It is also through the NCOP that Local Government gains access and makes inputs to the Central Government Legislative processes. This it does indirectly through the respective MECs for Local Government or directly by occasional participation in the forum of the NCOP.

In general the NCOP considers and amends, propose amendments to, or reject legislation. It considers all national bills, and also has the power to initiate legislation which relates only to the provinces or in areas in which both the national and provincial governments have powers to make law (Schedule 4 areas).
It is imperative that in presenting their positions provinces must be able to assert themselves and be able to be both robust and constructive in the debates. In this manner they enrich the process as the product that comes from the debates is a collective viewpoint of the provinces themselves.

The provinces are also an important link for Co-operative Governance. We decided that our system of governance was not to be hierarchical but that they should be one integrated unit with different parts or spheres, namely: national, provincial, and local government.

Each of the spheres has to be loyal to the National Constitution and implement it irrespective of who is in power. This was designed to achieve sound intergovernmental relations and co-operative governance across the board.

The NCOP has gone a long way from the time when it was regarded as the stepchild of the National Assembly. The truth is that both the National Assembly and the NCOP are two Houses of Parliament.

There was a time during my tenure as Chairperson when Cabinet members were reluctant to avail themselves for the proceedings of the NCOP. I had to rule at that time that Members of the National Executive must appear in person to present their programmes and to answer questions.

Those times are passed and there is now full acceptance and positive attitude towards the NCOP. The programme of "Taking Parliament to the people" is designed to deepen democracy and to achieve popular participation. Through this, the NCOP has been able to achieve one of the tenets of participatory decision-making, namely; the practical and bottom-up involvement of ordinary people in the decision-making of governance structures.

This involvement of those most adversely affected and in whose name Parliament exists is a key to this process of deepening democracy and to the attainment of popular participation.

It is important that people who live everywhere, including in small towns and rural areas, know:

* that they can be directly heard
* that they can compel amendments to proposed legislation, etc.
* that the physical distance of Parliament from them is not a barrier
* that they will not only see their elected representatives on television but they can physically see and hear them
* that they are able to put their cases to them directly.

That is deepening democracy, and popular participation in action and this is what happens when "Parliament goes to the people"!

"Popular participation" is, in essence, the empowerment of the people to effectively involve themselves in creating the structures and in designing policies and programmes that serve the interests of all as well as to effectively contribute to the development process and share equitably in its benefits - be it political, social, economic, legal, technological, cultural, and, or, environmental.

This means, therefore, that in pursuing its objectives the NCOP need to be conscious of a diverse range of activities taking place around it. Through its oversight processes it can contribute to the advancement of the above activities in those areas in which they impact on its work. In this regard the NCOP can facilitate the effective implementation of the following:

* Influencing both provincial and local governments to adopt development strategies, approaches and programmes, whose content and parameters are in line with the interest and aspirations of the people and which incorporate, rather than alienate, African values and economic, social, cultural, political and environmental realities.
* In fostering endogenous and people-cantered development strategies, and creating an enabling environment to facilitate broad-based participation, in the development process on a decentralised-basis.
* By facilitating the extension of more economic power to the people through the equitable distribution of income, support for their productive capacity through enhanced access to productive inputs, such as land, credit, technology, etc.
* Promoting sharing and dissemination of information by other spheres of government so that citizens are themselves empowered through and with that information.
* Facilitate greater participation and consensus-building in the formulation and implementation of economic and social policies at all levels, including the identification and elimination of laws and bureaucratic procedures that pose obstacles to people's participation.
* To galvanise and tap the people's energy and commitment, and to promote political accountability by the State to the people. This will render imperative that a partnership between government and the people should be achieved.

The NCOP could consider to set up consultative machinery at various levels such as the President's Council on which Premiers serve; various provincial premiers' forums; worker organisations; women's organisations; and so on.

There is a need for an ongoing re-evaluation of the work of Parliament and other institutions in order to stay on course all the time. This is the opportune moment for the NCOP and all of us to:

* conduct an assessment of what weaknesses may exist
* what improvements can be effected
* how are the delegates appointed
* is the quality or calibre of representation up to standard
* are numbers of the delegates sufficient to carry out the task or is the structure bloated
* are the provinces effective and efficient in discharging their responsibility
* are the provinces too many and should the number be reduced (as the Minister of Provincial and Local Government has alluded to
* should the role of provinces be re-considered, i.e. increase their powers or curtail them?

Indeed, the NCOP has a responsibility to consider these questions so that it can improve the structure where it may be weak or not fully achieving what it was set up to achieve.

This Summit on Intergovernmental Relations and Co-operative Governance must, therefore, seek to examine the role that the NCOP has played over the last ten years and to consider the above and other questions and make suggestions and recommendations that will ensure that the spirit and letter of the establishment of the NCOP are achieved.

In short, the NCOP's experience over the last decade has been fruitful. We need to take stock of what was achieved but concentrate on what can still be achieved in the next ten five to ten years. As indicated, above, a lot can still be achieved, focused, or refined.

I wish to take this opportunity to pay a tribute to all the Chairpersons of the NCOP for holding the organisation together in the face of the challenges it has faced and continues to face today.

I wish to pay a special tribute to the late Joyce Kgwadi who passed on still holding her sword and at the helm of the NCOP. It is unfortunate that she is not here with us to witness the 10th anniversary celebration of an institution she helped to build and to steer through troubled waters.

I also wish to pay tribute to the current Chairperson and other organisers of this summit.

To all the delegates to the summit I wish you a fruitful and enriching discussion over the next two days.

Thank you!

Issued by: Ministry of Defence
2 May 2007