Parliament’s National Council of Provinces (NCOP) will host the Provincial Week in all nine provinces from 8 to12 September 2014. The Provincial Week theme is: ‘Together making service delivery work for our people’. The permanent delegates to the NCOP will use this opportunity to:
- Interact with members of the public on matters related to service delivery
- Undertake oversight visits to projects
- Convene public meetings to listen to service delivery concerns
- Ensure that concerns are attended to
Since its inception the Provincial Week has grown to become a key measure used for soliciting information on progress that provincial governments and municipalities were making in delivering quality services to the people.
The National Assembly has scheduled three plenary sessions for the week. On Tuesday, it will debate the significance of national days in the pursuit of nation building and social cohesion. On the following days, it will debate Questions for Oral Reply by the governance cluster and the high incidence of violence against women and children.
Parliament’s powers and privileges committee and the ad hoc committee on the President’s response to the Public Protector’s report concerning the upgrades at his Nkandla residence have been in the spotlight for the past few weeks. However, neither committee is on the programme for this week, but this could change.
Here are some of the highlights for the week:
On Tuesday, MPs will hear from the Department of Trade and Industry on the country’s trade policy, existing trade agreements, the status of Doha Round of Trade Negotiations and regional integration.
On the same day, the Department of Cooperative Governance and the Municipal Infrastructure Support Agent will brief the Portfolio Committee on Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs on the Municipal Infrastructure Grant and intervention plans to assist struggling municipalities.
Meanwhile, the Portfolio Committee on Energy will discuss the gas sector with the relevant authorities – namely Department of Energy, National Energy Regulator of SA, SASOL and PetroSA.
On Wednesday, the colloquium on beneficiation continues for a fifth day. The Chamber of Mines and Competition Commission are expected to make representations on the subject.
On the same day there will be a briefing by the National School of Government on its state of readiness, its programmes, projects and collaboration with other relevant institutions. Also, the University of Fort Hare will update the legislators on student protests at its campus and plans to prevent future academic disruptions. This follows previous presentations made by the Mangosuthu University of Technology and the University of Limpopo.
On the legislative side, the Justice and Correctional Services Committee will continue deliberations on the Legal Aid Bill and the Attorneys Amendment Bill this week. The Rental Housing Amendment Bill was recently revived by Parliament. The Department of Human Settlements will brief MPs on the amendments proposed by the NCOP to this Bill.
Click here for the full schedule of meetings.
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