NCOP Provincial Visit Week
The National Council of Provinces (NCOP), in collaboration with the Western Cape Provincial Parliament (WCPP) and representatives of the South African Local Government Association (SALGA), will be embarking on a Provincial Visit Week from 16-20 September in the southern Cape.
These Provincial Visit Weeks are a mechanism employed by the NCOP to keep abreast of developments in the provinces and to investigate and address service delivery challenges.
This is the first Provincial Visit Week of the 6th term and will include joint oversight visits with the Members of the WCPP to projects in order to monitor the delivery of services to communities, as well as meeting with communities in order to gain first-hand information on the delivery of services.
Speaker Masizole Mnqasela kicked off the Western Cape Provincial Visit Week yesterday when he chaired a briefing session by the ministers for Local Government, Environmental Affairs and Development Planning, and Finance, Economic Opportunities and Tourism, on the state of municipalities in the Western Cape. The briefing was attended by the Western Cape permanent delegates to the NCOP and Members of the Western Cape Provincial Parliament, including Premier Alan Winde.
On Tuesday, 17 September, the NCOP and WCPP Members will visit the Bitou Municipality’s waste transfer station and a housing development in KwaNokuthula. The municipality will also brief the delegation on a variety of other issues including cash flow, debt collection, water infrastructure and maintenance, electricity losses, etc.
On Wednesday, 18 September the Western Cape's permanent delegates to the NCOP will return to Cape Town to attend the joint sitting of the National Assembly and NCOP called by the President. The WCPP delegation will, however, continue and visit Mossel Bay where they will conduct an oversight visit to the municipal waste transfer station and the KwanoNgaba and Louis Fourie housing developments. The Mossel Bay Municipality will also brief the delegation on the state of cash flow, vacancies, infrastructure and the legislative impediments affecting the functioning of the municipality and its ability to deliver services.
On Friday, 20 September, the NCOP and SALGA delegates, together with the Members of the WCPP, will meet to deliberate on the findings of the week and draft a report for submission to both the Western Cape Provincial Parliament and the National Council Of Provinces.
