During her opening remarks for a two-day induction workshop of newly elected chairpersons of select committees, the Chairperson of the National Council of Provinces (NCOP), Ms Refilwe Mtshweni-Tsipane, urged the permanent delegates to the NCOP to ensure that provincial interests are always considered in the national sphere of government.
She emphasised that all Members of Parliament (MPs) are tasked with a responsibility to promote national unity through cooperative governance and intergovernmental relations across all three spheres of government.
The two-day workshop began yesterday under the theme, “Defining our collective effort in realising the mandate of the NCOP”. The workshop is mainly aimed at developing and endorsing strong work relationships among the provincial whips, the NCOP Chief Whip and the House Committee chairpersons by delineating their roles and responsibilities in advancing the mandate of the NCOP in the 7th Parliament.
Ms Mtshweni-Tsipane said: “As we embark on this new journey, we must underline the importance of this workshop, as an enabler to develop common practices, approaches and standards towards cohesively weaving together the activities of the NCOP. Your valued contribution from the inception of this planning phase, shall determine the prospects for our individual and collective successes… thus, in our business we must engender the political culture that promotes collective action, complementary actions and interrelatedness constitutive of the discipline of public service.”
She described the workshop as an opportunity to reflect on the NCOP’s core business, which is to ensure provincial interests are considered in the national sphere of government. “We are equally tasked with the responsibility to promote national unity, through cooperative governance and intergovernmental relations, across all three spheres of government,” she reiterated.
She also referred to South Africa’s 30 years of democracy, noting that we are at a defining moment of the transition to a democratic dispensation. She called on the NCOP to inform discussions towards an upcoming national dialogue, which will underline the necessity of liberation, as a process in motion, rather than an event, a goal or an outcome. We are to this extent, confronted with a society in a paradox. This is an environment constitutive of continuities and discontinuities from colonial apartheid to a constitutionalist present, Ms Mtshweni-Tsipane said.
Referring to Parliament’s oversight mandate, the Chairperson said oversight must strengthen accountability mechanisms and systems to enable Parliament to assert itself. “Our current conjuncture, of multiple, interrelated and interconnected crises requires a paradigm shift that initiates an activist oversight agenda for the NCOP, that embraces the spirit of the GNU and its statement of intent,” she emphasised.
On public participation, she said it is the entry point for South Africans to access parliamentary work and partake in the administration of the country, as envisioned by the Freedom Charter. It is an important vehicle to ensure effective oversight and law making, driven by the people from the ground up.
We need to rebuild a new dynamism that re-enacts organs of people’s power. The public needs to become re-energised across all spheres of government to promote more ongoing civic involvement in public affairs, Ms Mtshweni-Tsipane said.
Manelisi Ntsodo
21 August 2024
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