To this end, we should be true to the character and the mandate of the NCOP, which is to advance the interests of our provinces. We cannot have a Parliament that is not representative of the political will, of the social diversity, and of our country's ethno-demographic realities. We cannot have a Parliament which is not active and effective in its constitutional function at local and national levels, and which is not accountable to the people it serves. If it isn't those things, it can never act as an engine of