Hon members, thank you very much. Chief Justice and hon premiers present here today, may I start by congratulating all premiers on being elected to their positions. To deviate a little bit: I realised in the Third Parliament that there was a tendency, whenever premiers were invited to the National Council of Provinces, for the women speakers to respond immediately - and attend. I've quickly checked the House and the majority of them are here. I want to thank you very much. I hope that this will continue because we need each other to work together with the provinces and the National Council of Provinces. Thank you very much for attending. [Applause.] Also, remember that premiers are leaders of special delegates, in terms of the Constitution, in order to fulfil the mandate of this House.
I also thank Speakers that I see in the House. I see the Speaker from the Eastern Cape. Some Speakers I might not have met. Speakers are my counterparts in the National Council of Provinces. We have to make sure that our programmes conform and ensure that we work together to fulfil the objectives of the National Council of Provinces.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for electing me to this position of Chairperson of the National Council of Provinces. I'm both honoured and humbled by your confidence in me. I also wish to thank my party, the ANC, and my province for giving me this opportunity to lead the National Council of Provinces in the Fourth Parliament. I take the responsibilities they have given me very seriously.
I thank colleagues and members of the previous term for their support. I cannot forget the former Chairpersons of the National Council of Provinces who laid the foundation for the work we did in the Third Parliament. I would be failing if I did not extend a word of appreciation to the former Speakers of the provincial legislatures with whom I worked very closely at the Speakers' Forum and also in carrying out the duties of this House. We have cordial and special working relationships; together we laid the groundwork for the new NCOP in the Fourth Parliament. We will not only build on the work that was done, but increase our pace as we tackle the new challenges we are facing.
Hon members, the NCOP has a different mandate. Its mandate is to represent the provinces to ensure that provincial interests are taken into account in the national sphere of government. Central to the carrying out of this mandate is the challenging task of harmonising the interests of these three spheres of government in the name of intergovernmental relations. Needless to say, the National Council of Provinces will need to further enhance liaison and working relationships with provincial legislatures. Its permanent delegates must serve as agents for the promotion of a dynamic link with the provinces. I want to emphasise this because we are representing provinces here. Therefore, the perspective when we stand in this House will always relate to our provincial perspective because that is the reason we are here. And that is the reason, from time to time, we also have to get mandates from our provinces.
The work of the National Council of Provinces in the previous term provides a springboard from which to launch such a vibrant partnership in pursuit of our development goals. The NCOP is, however, a small House in terms of size. In order to make an impact, we need to understand and focus on our mandate especially in the areas of concurrent national and provincial competencies, such as education, health, agriculture and rural development.
Our approach to oversight should be informed by these realities and the nature of this House. The activities of the National Council of Provinces were informed by the expectation which we solicited from the provinces at the beginning of the term. These were contained in Programme 2009 which served as our guideline throughout the term. We will soon be developing, of course, a new concept in dealing with this Fourth Parliament.
As we start our journey in the Fourth Parliament, our first task will be to establish from provinces the broad key issues they would like us to focus on during this term. This will inform our planning, which must respond to the challenges faced by our people at this stage of our democracy. I would like to see us working closely with the SA Local Government Association, Salga, which has 10 seats in this Chamber. This will help us to understand and better respond to the challenges facing our people. Local government is a sphere of government that is at the coalface of service delivery. We need to roll up our sleeves - all of us - have all hands on deck and make sure that things are happening.
To the new and returning members: I hope that your induction over the next week will prepare you for the work ahead. We are aware that the majority of permanent delegates in the Fourth Parliament are new. I'm quite aware of that. We will take you through all the steps in order for you to understand what this House is all about so that we hit the ground running.
Let me take this opportunity to welcome you as permanent delegates to the National Council of Provinces in the Fourth Parliament. I expect this to be the most challenging but exciting term of this House. I'm hopeful that we will all live up to our responsibilities. I also hope that together we will push for less talk and more action. I want to repeat this: We will push for less talk and more action, and that is the name of the game in this House.
I thank all of you for participating in these elections, and that is the end of my speech for today. [Applause.] We now move to the speakers' list to allow permanent delegates to make a few comments. Each delegate has three minutes.