Order! We now come to the following item, that is, the election of the Permanent Deputy Chairperson of the NCOP. You will remember the first day when we elected the Chair, the Deputy Chairperson was not elected, and so today we will elect the Deputy Chairperson.
We will now proceed to the election of the Deputy Chairperson of the National Council of Provinces. Perhaps I must make this very clear: There are two Deputy Chairpersons here. The one is permanent, and stays here in Cape Town, and the other is rotating, like a wheel. We will explain later on why it is like that.
The Chairperson announced the appointment of Adv M E Phindela as Returning Officer, and as Assistant Returning Officers Adv B N Nonyane, Adv J Niekerk, Ms V H Mnana, Ms S Bowers, Mr M Skolo and Mr M Mbebe.
The Chairperson reminded the delegates that nominations had to be submitted in the prescribed form and duly seconded.
The Chairperson drew the attention of delegates specifically to section 64 of the Constitution, in terms of which no person may be elected as Permanent Deputy Chairperson of the Council unless he or she is a permanent delegate of the Council.
The Chairperson informed members that in terms of item 4 of Part A of Schedule 3 to the Constitution no debate would be allowed.
The Chairperson called for nominations.
Mr J Mthembu, seconded by Ms P Kekana, nominated Ms Thandi Memela for election as Permanent Deputy Chairperson of the National Council of Provinces.
The Returning Officer reported to the Chairperson that the nomination paper had been properly completed.
There being no further nominations, the Chairperson declared Ms Thandi Memela duly elected as Permanent Deputy Chairperson of the National Council of Provinces.