Head of the Chairperson of Committees Sub-Forum Nomantu Ralehoko. This new sub-forum incorporates all portfolio and standing committee chairpersons of the Gauteng Provincial Legislature.
‘Overseeing the overseer’: This is how one of the councillors described the role of the newly established Chairperson of Committees Sub-Forum of the Gauteng Speakers Forum (GSF).
The Chairperson of Committees Sub-Forum is made up of all portfolio and standing committee chairpersons from the Gauteng Provincial Legislature (GPL).
The forum was officially launched on Thursday last week in Thaba Eco Hotel, south of Johannesburg. It was attended by all the speakers from the various municipalities across Gauteng.
Among other functions, it is meant to co-ordinate the activities of the portfolio committees. Other roles and responsibilities include scheduling committee meetings, and ensuring that business plans for all portfolio and standing committees are adopted and implemented.
According to the new chairperson of the sub-forum, Nomantu Ralehoko, the formation of the forum will assist in fast-tracking service delivery and better co-ordination of the government’s record in the province. Gauteng is the first province to launch such a forum.
“The Chairperson of Committees Sub-Forum will provide us with an oversight over government departments in the province and ensure that there is capacity-building and public participation on a regular basis,” said Ralehoko.
The forum, through specific functions assigned to it, will also play a central role in terms of public participation and see to it that reports are processed through the legislature and the executive council. The office is also responsible for co-ordinating feedback sessions with members of the public.
“The political role of the Chairperson of Committees Sub-Forum will be in the main to ensure that committees of the GPL and section 79 committees implement the same agenda for law-making, oversight and public participation, using the same common norms and standards,” said Ralehoko at the launch of the forum.
“In this regard, and to give effect to the objectives of the GSF at the local legislatures, the Chairperson of Committees Sub-Forum has been established with the primary mandate to co-ordinate and implement all provisions of the GSF plans and decisions that relate to the work of legislative committees in the province.
“It is essential to bear in mind that the Chairperson of Committees Sub-Forum is not an event-driven forum — i.e. it is not based on ceremonial and symbolic events. Rather it is practically driven through real issues experienced by the respective legislatures on an ongoing basis and [through] innovative, creative and research-driven ways and means to practically address them. Thus, the main significance of the Chairperson of Committees Sub-Forum is to ensure that there is a sharing and learning of experiences and practices between legislatures at the level of Chairpersons of Committees. In this way we will ensure standardisation of processes, replication of successes, avoidance of mistakes and growth from lessons learnt, between all local legislatures.”
The Chairperson of Committees Sub-Forum is an offshoot of the GSF, a voluntary association for speakers of all Gauteng municipalities as well as the speaker of the Gauteng provincial legislature. The Forum was established as a platform for the sharing of parliamentary business practices among all Gauteng speakers with a view to establishing common provincial norms, standards and best practices for legislative work.
“As its parent body, the GSF, membership to the chairperson’s forum is also voluntary,” said Ralehoko.
“However, in terms of the MOU [memorandum of understanding] signed by all speakers, a formal working relationship among the speakers has been established and becomes the vehicle through which the objectives of the GSF are co-ordinated and implemented. The MOU is thus the overall policy and framework guiding the work of the GSF. Therefore, working against the backdrop of the GSF MOU, as the Chairperson of Committees Sub-Forum, we will also work towards the establishment of executive committees and sub-structures with key roles and responsibilities to ensure that the functions and objectives of this forum are disposed of correctly and in the best interest of the citizens of Gauteng.
“The GSF believes that effective oversight in local government can be implemented in an environment wherein the executive and legislative powers of Council are totally separated. In other words, fully fledged municipal legislatures along the same lines as provincial and national legislatures should be established. There is indeed sufficient legislative provision to implement separation of powers. The governance framework adopted by the GSF to guide its work provides for the sub-forums to implement its programme of action. The vision of the Gauteng Speakers Forum as entailed in its five-year strategic plan is to deepen democracy, enhance good governance, improve government accountability and create laws that are just and fair for the people of Gauteng. In this way, the people of Gauteng, especially the poor communities, must be assured to receive quality government services that are directly meant to improve their lives.”
Ralehoko said the GSF was supported by all opposition parties in Gauteng including the Economic Freedom Fighters, Al Jama-ah, the Democratic Alliance, Congress of the People, the United Democratic Movement, Patriotic Alliance, African Christian Democratic Party and the Inkatha Freedom Party.
“Everybody is supporting the forum. We also have the blessing of Cedrick Frolick [the current house chairperson: committees, oversight and ICT in the National Assembly of Parliament for the Republic of South Africa]. We are strengthening relationship between the National Assembly and the [National Council of Provinces] house chair and the National Speakers Forum.”
Frolick, who was present at the launch of the Chairperson of Committees Sub-Forum, congratulated Gauteng for establishing the forum.
“In terms of the legislative sector, we have the national and provincial legislatures. However, service delivery takes place in the municipalities. We would like to congratulate Gauteng for piloting the forum and being the first to launch. We hope other provinces will follow in future. The forum will serve the entire legislative sector as we take the work of Parliament to the people. We wholeheartedly support this mechanism,” said Frolick.
“Big metros have done excellent work. They attract highly qualified staff. However, smaller resources and economic activity is limited. This is a challenge. They need support from provincial legislature to be able to support smaller municipalities and by so doing ensure that we engage in a structured manner to avoid an oversight stampede.”
Speaker of the City of Johannesburg, Vasco da Gama, said the chairperson of committees will harmonise the portfolio and standing committees.