Taking Parliament to the People 19 - 22 November 2018

Taking Parliament to the People 19 - 22 November 2018

WHAT IS THE NATIONAL COUNCIL OF PROVINCES?

South Africa has a bicameral Parliament (two Houses). While the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) is constitutionally mandated to ensure that provincial interests are taken into account in the national sphere of government, the National Assembly (NA) is directly elected by the voters. The NCOP fulfils its constitutional mandate through participation in the national law-making pro-cess and by providing a national forum for consideration of issues affecting provinces.

WHAT IS TAKING PARLIAMENT TO THE PEOPLE (TPTTP)?

In 2002 the NCOP initiated the annual Taking Parliament to the People (TPTTP) Programme to conduct oversight and to facilitate public participation in Parliament’s processes. During the Pro-gramme, delegations consisting of members of Parliament, Provincial Legislatures, and local Mu-nicipalities visit sites related to the theme. The visit culminates in a public meeting, where mem-bers of the public are given the opportunity to draw the executive’s attention to challenges they experience with regards to service delivery and matters relating to the theme. Taking Parliament to the People visits provinces on a rotational basis, and in 2018 it is taking place in Gauteng.

THEME OF THE PROGRAMME

The theme of the TPTTP Programme changes annually and is identified based on a matter of im- portance in the province being visited. The NCOP identified the impact of migration on service delivery as a topic of par- ticular significance to the Gauteng province. The theme of the 2018 PTTP programme is thus “Impact of migration - deepening cooperative governance for accelerated service delivery and development”.

ABOUT MIGRATION

Migration is described as the movement of people from one place to another, either within a country or from one country to another. Migration happens when people are seeking employ-ment, escaping wars, or looking for better opportunities. Gauteng is South Africa’s economic hub and has experienced migration since the gold mining boom of the 19th century. Since the first democratic elections in 1994, Gauteng has seen a dramatic growth in domestic and international migration and attracts the highest number of migrants of all South Africa’s provinces. As a result, the province is home to a wide variety of people, from many parts of the country, the continent, and the world, who will need basic services at some point, as provided for in the Bill of Rights. All migrants, regardless of immigration status, enjoy these constitutional rights. In this context, Gaut-eng is expected to include provision for health care, access to education, and housing for all in its Provincial budget allocation.

SCHEDULE OF PUBLIC MEETINGS DURING THE MAIN VISIT

All public meetings will take place at the Alberton Civic Centre in the City of Ekurhuleni.

Limited transport will be available to transport members of the public to the event. Kindly note that transport will depart earlier than the meeting times indicated above.