Debate on how to strengthen the National Council of Provinces (NCOP), occasioned by its 10th anniversary, will not achieve the desired outcome if led by critics who are distanced from the institution. This includes the press.
Earlier this year, NCOP chairperson Mninwa Mahlangu remarked that in general, the media had scant knowledge of the council. Against this background it is perhaps fair to understand why Nic Dawes, in his critical assessment of the institution (“The National Council of Pointlessness”, May 25) ends up tilting at windmills.
There is enough evidence to debunk most of the points raised by Dawes, but this exercise would require an uncommon dose of space generosity from the editor. As a result I will concentrate on a few points that belie Dawes’s knowledge about the NCOP.
The council operates in terms of a constitutional mandate to represent the provinces, ensuring that their interests are taken into account in the national legislative process, and providing a national forum for public consideration of issues affecting the provinces.
Knowledge of this requires an understanding that the “acid test” for the NCOP is the extent to which national legislation is sensitive to the different circumstances and interests of provinces. But if one were Dawes, one would probably undermine the importance of this yardstick.
In 1998, then deputy president Thabo Mbeki warned against the narrow-minded view that the NCOP could be judged by the number of Bills it amends. “What this amounts to,” he said, “is an impression that the NCOP is functional and effective to the extent that it rejects legislation emanating from the executive and the National Assembly.
“If the NCOP were to follow this approach, it would allow itself to be locked into a competitive mould that might be typical of other jurisdictions but which would constitute a departure from the vision and practice of cooperative governance to which the Constitution enjoins us.”
In respect of one NCOP programme promoting public participation and education, Taking Parliament to the People, Dawes sees a “public relations boondoggle”. But the facts reveal his cynicism — a common characteristic of critics with limited knowledge of the subject.
For instance, during the March 2007 visit to Sedibeng district, Gauteng, about 7 000 ordinary people attended each of the five sitting days, a clear indication of a grassroots quest to interact with public representatives.
To ferry these people to Cape Town for five days to join the elite who normally make submissions to parliamentary committees would have set back the community by more than R30-million on a low-cost airline.
Worse, Dawes makes his empty assertion without a clue of the detailed follow-up work the NCOP would normally do after such visits.
After the visit to Free State in November last year, the NCOP chairperson returned to Parys earlier this year to respond to a request for assistance by a group of women cooperative members. He invited others, including trade and industry officials who could provide practical assistance to these entrepreneurs.
As part of its 10th anniversary, the NCOP is reviewing its own role, specifically in relation to social transformation (focusing on education, health and social development); socioÂeconomic development, especially at local government level; and intergovernmental fiscal administration. These are some of the fundamental challenges the NCOP must address if it wants to contribute to the acceleration of quality service delivery.
However, the issue of capacity is critical to the work of the NCOP. The current number of 54 permanent delegates is inadequate and frustrates the council’s detailed work. This is an issue we would like to see addressed to enable the NCOP to respond meaningfully to service delivery challenges.
Dawes writes that the “gathering momentum behind proposals to trim the provincial system down to size is a real existential threat to the council”. I beg to differ. The existence of the NCOP should be determined by whether it plays its critical role as a harmoniser of national, provincial and local government interests, including providing a voice for poor communities to influence the provision of quality service delivery.
Mandisi Tyumre is senior adviser to the chairperson of the NCOP