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Your Guide to Parliament
The National Council of Provinces
Information obtained from brochure issued by: Public Education Office
of Parliament (021) 403 8200
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Introduction
Parliament consists of two
Houses the National Assembly and the National Council of Provinces (NCOP). There
are three spheres of government in South Africa – national, provincial and
local government. These are created to bring
government closer to the people. The NCOP was created to ensure that
provinces and local government have a direct voice in Parliament when
national laws are made. This is important because most of these laws have to
be implemented, or carried out, in provinces and local government. What is the NCOP? The
NCOP consists of nine provincial delegations and a delegation of the South African
Local Government Association (SALGA). Each province has the same number of
delegates, no matter how big or small the province is. This
means that even a small province has as much say as a big province. There
is therefore a balance of interests between each of the nine South African
provinces. Each Province has 10 delegates. There are 4 special delegates and
6 permanent delegates. The Premier of each province, who is one of the
special delegates, heads the delegation. If
necessary, the Premier can appoint someone to take his\her place. The
provinces’ delegation must reflect the strength of the different political
parties in the specific province. Bills that Amend the Constitution When
a Bill to amend or change the Constitution directly affects the provinces, at
least six of the nine provinces in the NCOP must support the Bill. If the
Bill to amend the Constitution does not directly affect the provinces then
the Constitution requires that the NCOP debate the Bill, without voting,
before it goes to the National Assembly for voting. |
Powers of the NCOP The
NCOP has a different role than the National Assembly. All Bills have to be
passed by both Houses but the NCOP’s special role is to represent the
interests of provinces and local government when Bills are passed. This
is why the NCOP consists of provincial delegates who all have one vote per
province on Bills which directly affect the provinces. The
NCOP also has an important role to play in promoting national unity and good
relations between national, provincial and local government. There is a good
reason for this. The National Assembly consists of direct representatives of
the political party you supported in the election. Delegates
in the NCOP represent the legislature in each province and were elected to
the province and not to the NCOP. This means they represent their provinces
and do not represent individual voters directly. The NCOP and You Because
members of the NCOP are provincial delegates, the way to influence the NCOP
is through provincial legislatures. But on issues affecting local government,
you can contact any councilor in your municipality. The
party that wins the most support in the provincial election, will head the
provincial delegation to the NCOP. You have
a right attend the meetings of the Select Committee of the NCOP and attend
all sittings, like ever other meeting in Parliament. When
the NCOP is debating a Bill, it also has a duty to take into account what
members of the public feel. This means that you have a right to inform any
member of the NCOP or committees of your views. |
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