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NCOP: Statement by the National Council of Provinces, concludes its oversight visit in Northern Cape (15/09/2014)

NCOP: Statement by the National Council of Provinces, concludes its oversight visit in Northern Cape (15/09/2014)

15th September 2014

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Last week the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) concluded its Provincial Week oversight visit in the Northern Cape. On the last day of the oversight, Deputy Chairperson for the NCOP Mr Raseriti Tau said the oversight visit had been positive, particularly the engagement with the residents of the Bothitong village.

“There was a general appreciation of the NCOP having come to them, with the high level of anger that people had with the government, including councilors who were present. But here were members of the NCOP who could stand in front of them and say ‘let us talk, let us engage on the issues that affect the community’,” said Mr Tau.

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The purpose of the public meeting was to give the community of Bothitong an opportunity to make their voices heard by informing members of the NCOP and public representatives of their needs and challenges, thereby enabling the NCOP to assess the state of service delivery in the area.

On the matter of the road, Mr Tau informed the residents the government had appointed contractors that will start with the building of the 130km tarred road of the demanded 700km stretch, but the building of the road will be done in phases. He said the use of local labour will be utilised so as to create employment opportunities.

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Prior the public meeting with the residents the NCOP delegates conducted an oversight on the identified sites such as the local clinic, police station and agricultural site for job creation. The NCOP recommended that regarding the clinic the Department of Health needed to address the poor working conditions that health practitioners work under and the need to purchase and procure an ambulance for the community needs to be urgently addressed as it infringes on the rights of citizens of the community.

Subsequently, the delegation received a briefing from the police station commander on the challenges facing the police station. The NCOP said the involvement of the Community Policing Forum should be encouraged to ensure that crime levels are decreased in the area, and the appointment of more local police officers be made so as to avoid the manpower handicaps that the police station is currently facing. Members of the NCOP said roadworthy vehicles should be allocated to the police, in light of the poor conditions of roads in the area.

On visiting a vegetable project, the NCOP delegation was shocked to find that the Molemi Tsoga vegetable project no longer exists. The NCOP delegation found a field that had been fenced but the piece of land had no vegetables. The project was apparently halted because of the lack of access to water. One of the members of the project said the project was not supported by the relevant government department.

NCOP delegates said the municipality must ask the Department of Water and Sanitation to revive the project by providing the residents with a borehole.

In De Aar the findings by the delegates were similar to the ones in Kuruman, where the local clinic has a shortage of staff with only two professional nurses servicing the community. Members of the NCOP delegation said what is important from the public participation process is that once the report has been tabled and adopted, recommendations will then be forwarded to the relevant government departments that have been implicated during the oversight visits, which includes timeframes to respond to the recommendations.

Delegates from the NCOP received presentations from the South African Local Government Association (Salga) and district municipalities where oversight visits were conducted during the Provincial Week. Mr Tau said it is encouraging to see Salga taking the provincial programme seriously. “In the past it was not the case, the entity would come before delegates without having done any preparation and make no presentation.”

He said in the next Provincial Week, the programme should be drafted in a manner that the NCOP is provided an opportunity to make presentations on the findings and recommendations of the previous oversight visits and state what measures have been taken to remedy the challenges that had been identified.

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