SPEECH BY THE DEPUTY CHAIRPERSON OF THE NATIONAL
COUNCIL OF PROVINCES, HON P. HOLLANDER, ON THE
OCCASION OF THE DEBATE OF REPORT ON TAKING
PARLIAMENT TO THE PEOPLE VISIT TO GAUTENG
TUESDAY, 19 JUNE 2007
Hon House Chairperson
Hon Members
I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for affording me
the opportunity to open the debate on the report of our visit to
Gauteng in March this year, as part of the programme Taking
Parliament to the People.
In opening this afternoon’s debate, I would like to draw your
attention to the significance of locating this programme within our
broader programme, that is, Programme 2009. This is important
because at the end of this term we must, in the form of a report,
point to the work we have done toward achieving the targets we
have set out in Programme 2009.
Importantly, Programme 2009 is a result of a consultation process
with the provinces whereby presiding Officers, at the beginning of
this third Parliament, held sessions with Premiers of our provinces
to establish their expectations of the work of the NCOP until 2009.
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The result was a document that attempted to speak to those
issues raised by provinces – the Programme 2009 document.
The implementation of Programme 2009, then called Vision 2009,
was also supported by representatives of the leadership of our
legislatures at the first workshop on programming we held during
this term.
Hon Members, I am reminding you about this to show that we are
on course in terms of implementing Programme 2009. The recent
example of this implementation is the summit on intergovernmental
relations and co-operative government we held last month, which
we are confident has assisted us in beginning to leave a legacy for
future leaders and Members of this House.
And as we continue to implement this programme, we continue to
review our priorities so that we are able to respond to the
expectations of our electorate. This year again, we have looked at
these priorities and identified clearly what we need to do with
regard to conducting oversight and follow-up on the work we do
with provinces and local government, especially through this
programme Taking Parliament to the People. Soon, we will bring
those revised priorities for consideration by this House. But we
have already interacted with the Whippery and Committee
leadership.
Hon Members
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Julius Caesar once said: “We came, we saw and we conquered”.
Caesar used the phrase describing his victory over Pharnaces II of
Pontus in the Battle of Zela. This phrase is relevant to us today
because we are engaged in a battle to make the lives of our
people better.
Caesar said these words after he defeated Pharnaces II in the
battle of Zela that lasted for five days. We also spent five days at
Sebokeng, Gauteng, trying to understand people’s views with
regard to service delivery.
Caesar said these words in a message that he sent to the Roman
Senate, which was the Council of the Roman Empire. Today we
discuss this Report in the National Council of Provinces of South
Africa. So in this Report we are saying to the people of South
Africa that we went to Gauteng, and we saw, we heard, and we felt
the living conditions of the people there.
We went to Gauteng because facilitating public participation is at
the core of our work. Public participation has been defined as a
process leading to a joint effort by stakeholders representing all
relevant interests and sectors of society, technical specialists and
the various relevant organs of state who work together to produce
better decisions than if they had acted independently, and better
implementation of decisions through stakeholders “owning the
process”. That is why we took Parliament to Gauteng, to engage
with other stakeholders to this programme – the Gauteng Province
and its people.
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Public participation is the key to ensuring that government
understands the needs of the people and makes decisions that will
meet those in the best possible way. There is no better possible
way than to go to the people and see and listen, and feel and be
part of their daily struggles.
Once the stakeholders are on board, the next step is the
identification of problems and needs through consultation. Through
interactive dialogue, the Public Participation should lead to
“consensus building” and a convergence of thinking amongst
stakeholders, and ultimately shared solutions.
Now that we have engaged in dialogues with the people of
Gauteng, as stakeholders on board, the next logical step is to
forge ways for the desired solutions. We do this because the
Constitution strategically placed us, as the NCOP, in our intergovernmental relations system, to perform this task/mandate.
The Constitution says all spheres of government (national,
provincial and local) have to make it easy for people to participate
in government. However, government alone cannot build a better
life, as such the communities and all stakeholders have to be
partners of government. So it is us, “the voice of the people”, who
must encourage people to participate in government programmes.
Honourable members should remember that the Constitution
provides in section 72(1) that:
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The National Council of Provinces must – facilitate
public involvement in the legislative and other
processes of the council and its committees; and
conduct its business in an open manner, and hold its
sittings, and those of its committees, in public.
The Taking of Parliament to the People programme underscores
the importance of people’s involvement in their own governance. It
communicates a clear message to our people that nothing about
them, can ever be done without their presence and full
participation.
This public participation exercise also equip MPs with the
information they need to interact with the Executive, to draft
questions for plenary and to participate in debates on different
matters pertaining to service delivery. This is exactly what we
intend to do, as this Report will attest to.
The question, therefore, should be: now that we have undertaken
this public participation exercise as mandated by the Constitution,
what is next?
As part of our constitutional mandate of oversight we must do a
follow-up on this visit. Members will also recall that oversight is a
critical element in terms of our mandate. The Report itself leaves
no doubt that we have to do the follow-up. This is contained in
almost all recommendations made with regard to the site visits that
we undertook.
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As public representatives we are legally compelled to execute this
mandate. We must not forget that “mandate” is an authoritative
command or instruction (by the electorate to its representative).
This implies that Parliament must always report back to its
instructor (the electorate). That is why there must be follow-up visit
for every Taking of Parliament to the People activity.
The Taking Parliament to the People and “follow up visits” – as an
integrated programme - bode well with what we stated in our
Programme 2009 document:
“The
NCOP
must
closely
monitor
the
programmes
announced by the President in his first State of the Nation
Address to the 3rd Parliament . . ., and in each annual
address up to the end of the term, in order to be able to
meaningfully assist in the process of accelerating service
delivery. Toward this, our committees will pull out the specific
issues the President raised, engage with them, and draw up
detailed plans and specific programmes for oversight
work so that we can monitor implementation.”
In doing this we must also remember the Targets of programme
2009 which are:
•
Promotion of public participation with clear impact on delivery
and the work of Parliament
•
Improved support to local government through closely
monitoring government programmes at municipal level
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•
Increased oversight work that is guided by input from
provinces and local government regarding their needs and
interests
•
Improved intergovernmental relations as a result of the
NCOP’s sustained contribution to building the system of cooperative government.
There are of course specific issues raised in the Report and, in
some cases, proposed action. We need to carefully study these
and ensure that we devise ways and means to follow them up.
Let me make a comparison to Caesar again. While Caesar’s battle
ended once-and-for-all in five day’s time, ours is a never-ending
battle. It is an ongoing battle to make the lives of our people better.
Members have to understand that parliamentary oversight of the
Executive is not an end in itself. It is the means to an end, which is
the implementation of the policies by the Executive.
When we embark on oversight through the various committees we
must always remember that oversight is essential to the fulfilment
of the values of accountability, responsiveness and openness
enshrined in the Constitution.
In conclusion, I have to say that when we finish debating this
Report, we must be able to say to the people of Gauteng: We
came, we saw, we heard, and we will act.
I thank you
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