This year’s Provincial Week will focus on the National Development Plan’s (NDP’s) vision of creating employment and economic growth in South Africa, in a move to meet the global commitment to end poverty and inequality by the year 2030.

Permanent delegates to the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) will spend a week in their respective provinces interacting with government officials, the business sector and the public, discussing job creation and economic development.

This year’s Provincial Week will be held from 9 to 13 October, in all nine provinces, on the theme “Advancing our collective efforts to creating work opportunities for our people”.

The Provincial Week provides an opportunity for the NCOP and legislatures to engage directly with citizens on the challenges they experience. It further provides an opportunity to receive reports from government departments and municipalities on progress made regarding service delivery and job creation.

During Provincial Week, NCOP delegates will meet with the members of the provincial legislatures, the South African Local Government Association (SALGA), premiers, members of executive councils (MECs), mayors and other stakeholders from the private sector to discuss the implementation of the NDP, which includes job creation and economic development.

The NCOP says Provincial Week is intended to give permanent delegates to the NCOP and Members of the Provincial Legislatures (MPLs) an opportunity to, among other things, engage with both national and provincial departments, public entities, municipalities and SMMEs to understand their challenges in addressing poverty, unemployment and inequality;  undertake oversight visits to employment creation initiatives in the nine provinces, including short- and long-term projects and interventions in factories, industries, expanded public works projects, and so on,  undertake oversight visits to labour-intensive programmes and large-scale investment projects in electricity, rail, water and transport infrastructure; and get a broader understanding of the economic challenges facing provinces, especially in dealing with the challenges of poverty, unemployment and inequality. 

The Provincial Week Programme provides an opportunity for the NCOP and the legislatures to witness challenges experienced by citizens. It further provides an opportunity to receive reports from government departments and municipalities on progress made regarding service delivery since the previous visit. Follow-up is conducted on issues raised during Taking Parliament to the People programmes in various provinces.

The Chairperson of the NCOP Ms Thandi Modise has previously defined Provincial Week Programme as “one of the mechanisms that the NCOP has initiated with the intention that it continues to be transformed by the perspectives of provinces and issues facing local communities in the provinces. We established the Provincial Week in order to ensure that the NCOP remains the custodian of issues facing our people in the provinces. It provides a forum for the exchange and sharing of ideas on progress made around service delivery.”

Sakhile Mokoena

6 October 2017