Hon Deputy Chairperson, Your Excellency Mr Deputy President and hon members, I welcome the opportunity to participate in this debate, which is occasioned by the Deputy Presidents' annual address to the National Council of Provinces. I would like to thank the Deputy President for engaging the NCOP on how we can work together to respond to the developmental challenges facing our communities.
The debate takes place at a time when we are preparing for the elections, this time focusing on the important sphere of local government. It is opportune in that it gives us an early opportunity to raise our expectations from the leadership of this sphere after the 18 May elections. Needless to say, Deputy Chair, outgoing councillors have the moral and legal responsibility to prepare the ground for continuity and change.
The role of the NCOP, in the context of our democracy, is a very strategic one, as the Deputy President has already indicated. It is informed by the fact that the House provides a formal meeting point for the three spheres of government.
Therefore, it is better placed to give meaningful expression to the notion of co-operative government that is at the centre of our system of governance. That is very important. If people did not understand that, I think this is an opportunity today to make sure that we understand what the NCOP's role is. As Former President Mandela said in 1998:
The NCOP is uniquely placed to reflect the diversity of our society and to synthesise the experience of those spheres of government which are charged with the great bulk of the task of implementing our national programme of fundamental change.
It is key and essential to what I said and what the Deputy President has said. The promotion of co-operative governance is fundamental to ensuring that local, provincial and national governments work together to bring meaningful change to our communities. Our Constitution provides for separate and concurrent functions of the different spheres.
However, these functions are complementary and are intended to achieve one outcome - improving the lives of our people. It is not a question of competing with each other but it is a question of complementing each other and helping each other to achieve the results that are intended by the Constitution and the results that are intended to be achieved by the government of this country. Therefore, we need to complement each other and not compete with each other.
The question is: What role is the NCOP playing to facilitate this co- operative government and adherence to its principles? The Deputy President, at the beginning of the Fourth Parliament, raised a number of issues that the NCOP, including the National Assembly and provincial legislatures, should pay attention to. One of these issues is the manner in which we have been co-ordinating our oversight function.
I am happy to state that in implementing the outcome of the 2009 strategic planning workshop we have among, other things, reconfigured the portfolios of our House Chairpersons. This was in order to provide space for a new portfolio on co-operative government and intergovernmental relations and to combine the previously separate portfolios of committees and oversight.
We hope that this reconfiguration will assist us to work with other institutions to facilitate co-ordinated oversight, so as to avoid what the Deputy President termed "oversight stampede". That is not what we want to see. What we want to see is real oversight that is meaningful, effective and makes us see the results being achieved.
Specifically, the new portfolio on Co-operative Government and Intergovernmental Relations will assist us, among other things, to meaningfully promote the principles of co-operative government and intergovernmental relations, to better monitor and assess the government's performance with regard to ensuring a co-ordinated and co-operative approach to service delivery, and to continue to enhance the impact of public participation initiatives and the role of the NCOP in intergovernmental fiscal matters.
This is important because the three spheres of government are obligated to observe and adhere to the principles of co-operative government and intergovernmental relations. In terms of the Constitution, they must: firstly, provide effective, transparent, accountable and coherent government; secondly, respect the constitutional status, institutions, powers and functions of government in other spheres; and lastly, co-operate with one another in mutual trust and good faith.
That is how we should work and those are the principles of co-operative government and that is exactly what we should be monitoring also as the NCOP so that the flow and work and co-operation amongst the spheres of government is kept alive, working, effective and making sure that the results are achieved.
We need a government that works as one in responding to the developmental challenges facing our communities. The NCOP continues to place emphasis on the importance of involving the public in governance. To this end, we have significantly improved the approach to the Taking Parliament to the People programme. We now spend more time on preparatory work, including engaging the public and asking them to shape the agenda for the programme. This gives us the opportunity to engage the executive on the issues raised by the people long before we embark on the public participation, and for the executive to take action actually before we even get on the ground and make sure that those issues raised by the people are being addressed so that, at the same time, when we go there we announce the results of what people said they want to be addressed on.
We are also improving our follow-up work on these issues. I am proud to say that during our recent follow-up visit to Sekhukhune District Municipality in Limpopo, we witnessed significant progress since our programme in March last year.
The task of facilitating the development of our communities necessitates that, as Members of Parliament, we need to display unquestionable leadership qualities. We need to use our committees, our public platforms and other opportunities to articulate the interests of the people. Above all, we need to be focused - and not be all over the place - on our constitutional mandate and make sure that the objectives are attained.
In the face of the dynamic challenges we face as a country, it is important that we sharpen the role of Parliament. This is important because Parliament is the only institution in the Republic that has the power to make laws. Over and above that, it has the power to oversee the executive.
It is therefore important, Deputy Chair, that society and the executive derive value from our work. It is for this reason that we are finalising our implementation plan for the oversight and accountability model. The model will assist us to improve our monitoring and evaluation capacity, as well as the capacity to inspire innovative leadership on the part of those tasked with implementation. Importantly, we need to harness capacity to audit and monitor the impact of the laws that we pass.
Since the ushering in of the democratic Parliament, we have passed no fewer than 1 108 pieces of legislation. What I am trying to say is that it is very important to go back on the ground and ask: Out of the 1 108 pieces of legislation that we have passed, how many of those pieces of legislation make the lives of our people better? How many are being implemented? If you need an amendment, come back and suggest an amendment to that Act to say it hinders the implementation or delivery of services on the ground. That is another task Members of Parliament need to do.
Importantly, we should continue to engage organised local government on how they could meaningfully utilise their space in the NCOP. Organised local government is instrumental in facilitating development at the local level.
In conclusion, the NCOP is in a better position than ever to play its role in advancing our democracy. We continue to learn from our weaknesses. I dare say that we strive to be better, stronger and more inquisitive than we have ever been. I thank you all. [Applause.]