To mark the beginning of the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) Provincial Week in the Northern Cape, members of the Northern Cape’s provincial executive briefed the provincial delegation of the permanent delegates to the NCOP. The briefing, led by the province’s Premier, Dr Zamani Saul, focused on the province’s progress in implementing community-based infrastructure projects.
The leader of the NCOP delegation, Mr Solomon Mabilo, said that the delegation was in the province to, in the main, uphold its constitutional mandate of representing the people’s aspirations. This is done by ensuring that the provincial interests meant to improve the people’s lives are considered in the national spheres of governance.
He said this makes the NCOP a significant cog of service delivery imperatives and the nucleus of intergovernmental and cooperative governance. The significance of this, he said, was reiterated during the strategic oversight planning session of the three spheres of government that the NCOP held recently at Parliament.
Mr Mabil said the briefing was to provide the NCOP delegation with an overview of the institutional, planning, coordination and implementation challenges with bulk infrastructure in the province. He said that the NCOP delegation, in line with the theme for this year’s programme – Confronting the Challenges Facing the Timely Delivery of Viable Public Infrastructure to Communities – will engage in in-depth and robust oversight to ensure that outstanding critical service delivery infrastructure meant to improve the lives of the people of the province are duly completed.
The Deputy Speaker of the Northern Cape Provincial Legislature, Mr Mangaliso Matika, stressed that the theme for this year’s NCOP Provincial Week is not a mere coincidence. It is a realisation that the “development, preservation and maintenance of infrastructure for future generations is our responsibility”. He also conceded that the NCOP Provincial Week is one of the effective oversight tools that could hold the executive accountable and assist it in fulfilling its intergovernmental mandate, which is derived from the constitution.
Mr Matika said that the delayed service delivery and poor workmanship that characterised some of the bulk infrastructure in the province would serve as an ideal case study for the NCOP’s renewed oversight zeal in the 7th Parliament. “This programme must ensure that these prolonged impediments are overcome and never happen again. Of critical importance,” he said, “is to build social compacts among various service delivery roleplayers in the province that would propel them towards a common service delivery objective – to improve the living conditions of our people. We are all critical service delivery components and look forward to a fruitful oversight engagement.”
Dr Saul committed that the provincial executive will closely consider the conclusions, observations, and recommendations from the NCOP oversight site visits. He said these oversight engagements came at an opportune time when the executive was in the process of aligning its budget to its new service delivery priorities – priorities that now form part of the province’s developmental agenda and are aimed at modernising infrastructure, growing the economy, and turning the province into a green energy hub. On green energy, Dr Saul said plans are afoot to establish a green hydrogen energy plant, which would lead to industrial development desperately needed in the province.
Regarding the province’s modernisation efforts, he stated that this critical developmental indicator is meant to ensure that the province’s population has greater internet access to leverage the technological advantages and opportunities of the digital economy. “In 2020, the rate of internet connectivity stood at 68.5%, and now there’s 98% internet coverage in the entire province,” he said.
Dr Saul noted the NCOP as an integral roleplayer in ensuring that progress on the province’s developmental agenda is fast-tracked. One of the province’s major initiatives is its investment in water and sanitation bulk infrastructure projects. This is significant because water and sanitation challenges in the province have led to water restrictions in some communities. This challenge is coupled with the backlog of ageing water and sanitation infrastructure that requires regular maintenance and refurbishment. The rehabilitation of road infrastructure is another priority that the province is seized with, the Premier told delegates.
The province has initiated an R1 billion housing investment project to ease its housing backlog, and it is progressing well, the Premier said. “Eighteen implementing agencies and various contractors have been enlisted to plan, manage and monitor the implementation of this project.” The Premier said this housing project “has turned the province into a construction site”.
He also reiterated his provincial executive’s commitment to abide by the oversight findings and recommendations that will transpire during the NCOP Provincial Week.
The Office of the Auditor-General provided the NCOP delegation with the emerging audit trends and governance challenges faced by various local municipalities in the province. Mr Simon du Plessis, from the AG’s office, noted compliance with legislation as one of the teething challenges that continue to dog many municipalities in the province. This affects the audit ecosystem of many municipalities in the province, he said, also noting that the quality of financial statements is an ongoing concern. He said this is the case despite some municipalities hiring consultants to compile their financial statements.
Mr du Plessis told delegates there is a need for consequence management for irregularities as this compromises the governance and stability of many municipalities. He also said that many municipalities’ governance needs to be capacitated to investigate the root causes of irregular and fruitless expenditure. For this to improve, there is a need for a viable accountability ecosystem involving municipalities, the provincial AG’s office, and the provincial government.
Abel Mputing
17 September 2024
Arrange a tour