FRIDAY, 4 NOVEMBER 2005
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          PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL COUNCIL OF PROVINCES

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The Council met at the Tivumbeli Multipurpose Centre, Nkowankowa, Tzaneen at 10:10.

The Chairperson took the Chair and requested members to observe a moment of silence for prayers or meditation.

ANNOUNCEMENTS, TABLINGS AND COMMITTEE REPORTS – see col 000.

The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: Order! Hon members, it gives me great pleasure to welcome all of you to this plenary of the NCOP in Tzaneen, Limpopo province. I will now call on His Excellency President Thabo Mbeki, the President of the Republic of South Africa, to address the House. [Applause.]

        PEOPLE’S PARLIAMENT AT WORK TOGETHER WITH OUR PEOPLE


                      (Subject for Discussion)

The PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA: Chairperson and Deputy Chairperson of the NCOP, Premiers, MECs, Bishops – I am looking for them, I can’t see them. Ah, there they are. I am very glad to see them - and the hon members of the NCOP. Fellow South Africans, including the ones who are in the marquee, I am honoured to have this opportunity once more to interact with the NCOP. As I did when I spoke to the NCOP when it met in KwaZulu-Natal in October last year, I would like to congratulate the NCOP on its programme to take Parliament to the people.

This addresses what must remain a central feature of our democracy, namely the maintenance of the closest possible contact between the legislatures and the executive and administrative authorities on the one hand, and the masses of our people on the other.

Because of the legacy we inherited and therefore the challenges our nation faces, the democratic state has to play an especially important role with regard to the process of the reconstruction and development of our country in all spheres of human endeavour.

The masses are conscious of this and are therefore intensely interested to know what the organs of state are doing. I think, Chairperson, this has been exemplified, as you told me, by the interest that the people of this area have paid and the attendance at meetings of the NCOP while they’ve been meeting here in Tzaneen. Those of us who are involved in the governance system have a collective responsibility to ensure that we respond properly and continuously to this legitimate desire of the people.

In addition to this, we have stressed repeatedly that such regular interaction with the people would contribute greatly to the realisation of the objective that government should be transparent and accountable.

Throughout the period of our democracy, we have also insisted that to create a people-centred society we have to engage in people-driven processes of change. This cannot happen if the people are not sufficiently empowered with the knowledge they need to enable them constructively to participate in determining their future.

As hon members are aware, the NCOP occupies a unique position within our constitutional system of governance. This derives from the fact that it is the only institution within the system that straddles all three spheres of our co-operative governance construct - the national, the provincial and the local.

This places the NCOP in a strategic oversight position. It has the possibility and the mandate to keep a constant eye on the processes that must integrate legislative and executive decisions in all spheres of government and ensure the practical implementation of these decisions, especially to the extent that they impact directly on the lives of the people.

For this reason, I believe that the NCOP should regularly review its effectiveness with regard to the discharge of its mission, to ensure that it constantly improves its performance. This would benefit our democracy and all its institutions enormously and further strengthen our system of co- operative governance.

In this regard, hon Chairperson and hon members, you will pardon me if I return to the same subject on which I focused when I had the honour to speak to the NCOP last year. This is the critical issue of local government.

I said then that:

We need municipalities that serve all the people and have the requisite capacity to provide regular and reliable services to citizens as well as being in the forefront of the reconstruction and development of our country.

I said that:

We need efficient and effective municipalities so as to deliver these better services to ensure that poor households have access to basic infrastructure and the poor are provided with free basic services.

Further, as we accelerate the implementation of our Expanded Public Works Programme, we need strong municipalities to work in partnership with other spheres of government. Similarly, the Municipal Infrastructure Grant will not make the required impact if our municipalities are weak.

I said then that:

As we know, there are serious delivery backlogs, which have denied millions of our people the possibility of a better life. We are aware of municipalities which serve large communities that have no access to clean water, sanitation and electricity.

To respond to this lack of capacity, I said in May of last year that Cabinet took a decision to develop a support initiative for local government structures called “Project Consolidate” and constituted an inter- ministerial committee for this programme.

Chairperson, I am pleased to report to the NCOP that in the period since I made this statement a year ago, Project Consolidate has made the impact we sought, opening the road towards the empowerment of our system of local government properly to discharge its responsibilities.

As the hon members are aware, both the President and the Deputy President of the Republic, as well as our Ministers, are engaged in an imbizo process that involves visits to municipalities. This process differs in some important respects from the provincial izimbizo that we convened in the past.

The central purpose of the provincial imbizo was to hear directly from the people about their concerns and their needs, allowing them to raise any issues on their minds, with no restrictions. This process helped greatly to sensitise us to the expectation of the people on many issues of immediate interest to them. It also exposed us to what they expect the government to do to address the challenge of providing a better life for all. As hon members know and would expect, this related particularly to the sphere of local government.

The people’s response confirmed that we were correct to emphasise the critical importance of local government as the one sphere of government that faces the greatest challenge to maintain the closest possible contact with the people, the best placed to give practical expression to the vision that “the people shall govern”.

As the hon members know, sooner or later the Minister for Provincial and Local Government and the IEC, our electoral commission, will announce the date for the next local government elections. Arising from the concerns expressed by the people about local government and what we know of the challenges facing that sphere of government, I would like to make a proposal for consideration by the NCOP relating to the forthcoming elections.

Last week I had to answer a question in the National Assembly occasioned by the concern of an MP about the processes in which the various political parties in our country are engaged to select their candidates for the next local government elections. In my response to that question, I indicated that I have indeed received disturbing reports concerning some of these selection processes. There seems to be a very intense interest among some of our citizens to secure nomination as candidate councillors, using all means available to them. This has resulted in various actions, which, though affecting individual political parties and organisations, clearly do not contribute to the further deepening of democracy in our country. Among other things, the actions to which I refer seek to undermine the free expression of the will of the people in the party selection processes. This is done by way of a range of unacceptable actions, which include outright intimidation through the threat of violence targeted at the intra-party electors. This also includes corrupt practice, represented by various forms of bribery of the potential voters empowered to participate in the party selection processes.

I believe that we must state the pre-eminent consideration in this regard in a forthright manner. This unseemly scramble for political power in municipal government appears to be driven by the desire to abuse elected positions to lay hands on the economic resources that the local authorities have the possibility to access. This includes the power of members of municipal executive authorities to determine the outcomes of municipal tendering processes, regardless of the fact that the Municipal Finance Management Act expressly prohibits the involvement of councillors and mayors in adjudicating bids for municipal tenders.

Despite this legal provision, it is obvious that those desperately hungry for political power for selfish reasons are driven first and foremost by hunger to get rich quickly at the expense of the poor of our country. These are the same poor masses that elect popular representatives, confident that they are putting their X signs opposite the names and symbols of parties and individuals committed to serve their interests.

However, as I said in my address to the NCOP last year, and as I have already indicated, we need municipalities that serve all our people and have the requisite capacity to provide regular and reliable services to citizens as well as being at the forefront of reconstruction and development of our country. We cannot build such a system of municipal government by electing councillors driven by criminally selfish motives, who have absolutely no interest to serve the people and who do not belong amongst those determined to occupy the front trenches in the difficult and complex struggle for the reconstruction and development of our country, focused on the achievement of the goal of a better life for all.

I have spoken at length on this worrying matter to lay the basis for an appeal that I would like to make to the important Chamber of our national legislature – the NCOP.

I humbly request that you use your powerful voice, as elected representatives of the people, to urge all our parties and local communities to present as candidate councillors people whom they are convinced are truly committed to serving the people of South Africa.

In this regard, if you accept my proposal, I would suggest that you also indicate publicly the kinds of behaviour that are unacceptable in the nomination processes, as well as those that are acceptable in our democracy, to help the masses of our people to understand the kinds of activity our elected legislative organs and the rest of our governance system find impermissible.

Further to this, I would suggest that the NCOP should not be satisfied merely to adopt the kind of resolution I’m proposing. I would dare suggest that, having adopted such a resolution, the National Council of Provinces should make every effort to ensure that this resolution, reflecting its views, is communicated to as many South Africans as possible. This would help to create the national climate that will help all of us to elect an echelon of municipal leaders who enjoy the confidence of the people, because they inspire certainty among the electorate that they will act, truly, as the people’s envoys.

I’m certain that the millions of our people would feel greatly obliged to this particular sitting of the National Council if, at its conclusion, it is said that there is an elected organ of state that has taken up the cudgels to promote the achievement of the objectives of good councillors for developmental municipalities.

Chairperson, I have said that the current round of municipal izimbizo differs significantly from our previous provincial izimbizo. For the municipal izimbizo, we decided to focus on the strategic objectives to help the municipal authorities to meet their obligations, regardless of their size and resource endowment.

To achieve this, as hon members are aware, our municipal izimbizo consist of interaction between ourselves on the one hand, and the mayoral committees, the municipal management echelon and ward committees on the other.

In the first instance, it has enabled us to identify the specific problems that impact negatively on the possibility of the municipalities meeting their obligations to the people. We have been greatly assisted in this regard by work done by Project Consolidate and the IDP hearings, panel reports, both of which detail the constraints impeding effective service delivery and socio-economic development.

To give an indication of what I’m talking about, let me cite some of the comments made by the panel that conducted the IDP hearings in the Gert Sibande District Municipality in Mpumalanga. Amongst other things, the panel said that there are serious capacity constraints in most local municipalities. It said the district interventions are short-term oriented, in the sense that they are focused mainly on district staff deployment instead of working towards capacitating the respective local municipalities to be self-sufficient in future.

It said that the district is focusing on micro projects that have very little impact on the economy of the district and that there are no plans for big anchor projects with large socio-economic spin-offs. It said that the district was still struggling with planning processes due to a system of over-reliance on consultants and it said that the district is often not able to spend some of the funds it has available due to its own implementation capacity constraints.

Having met and engaged the executive and administrative leadership of the Gert Sibande district leadership, I would say that these leaders are indeed working hard to ensure that the municipalities they lead and manage meet their obligations to the people. The problems identified at the IDP hearings do not arise from a lack of commitment by this leadership to discharge its responsibilities.

Part of the problem was identified by Project Consolidate, which said that almost 20% of municipal posts were vacant. Significantly, this included 15 of the top managerial positions - 85 within the professional category, including engineers, town planners and so on, and 130 skilled artisans required for maintenance and operations.

It is obvious that without these skilled personnel, the district will continue to experience serious shortfalls in terms of meeting its own IDP objectives. During the Gert Sibande imbizo, our attention was also drawn to gross imbalances in terms of the staff employed by the various local municipalities in the district. Govan Mbeki Local Municipality in the district accounts for about 25% of the population of the district, while the Albert Luthuli Local Municipality has 21% of the population.

Yet the Albert Luthuli Municipality employs only 191 people, compared with the 1 448 employed by the Govan Mbeki Municipality. It is perfectly obvious that, with such a small staff, Albert Luthuli can never hope to achieve any of its developmental objectives.

The reason for this extraordinary disparity became very clear when it was explained that the Govan Mbeki Municipality covered the town of Secunda, while the Albert Luthuli Municipality covered the former kwaNdebele Bantustan area. In other words, the democratic order has permitted the perpetuation of the gross imbalance that existed during the apartheid years between white South Africa and Bantustan South Africa.

Both the challenges that we have mentioned raise critical questions about municipal finances. To hire the skilled personnel to fill the vacant posts in the Gert Sibande Municipal area and properly staff the Albert Luthuli Local Municipality will require financial resources that these municipalities may not have.

And yet, if we require these municipalities to contribute to the achievement of the goal of a better life for all, as we do, we surely have an obligation to provide the municipalities with the resources that they need to help our country realise this goal.

As I have already indicated, during the municipal imbizo, we also interact with the ward committees. Again, this gives us the possibility to understand the specific challenges facing this important institution in our system of governance.

It seems clear that many municipalities have indeed made serious efforts to ensure that they establish the ward committees. However, there are some problems that need to be solved to improve the effectiveness of these committees, which play a vital role in ensuring the interaction between the people and our governance system, which we spoke of at the beginning of the address.

Ward committee members raised such questions as the need to ensure adequate funding for their committees; some emolument for the members; improving interaction between the committees and the councils, and improving feedback from the councils; extending the mandates of the committees beyond one year, and strengthening the Speakers’ offices to improve their capacity to support the ward committees.

Chairperson and hon members, I have mentioned these detailed matters about local government to encourage the NCOP to take the issue of strengthening our system of local government as one of its major challenges.

As we sought to indicate earlier on, when we commented on the unique position of the National Council within our system of governance, the NCOP would necessarily also have to focus on the realisation of the objective of co-operative governance, without which it would not be possible to build an effective system of local government.

The central task facing us during this second decade of freedom is to ensure the implementation of the policies and programmes we have evolved during our 11 years of liberation. This decade must see us move forward to achieve the targets we have set ourselves with regard to such important matters as the reduction of unemployment and poverty, and the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals. To achieve these objectives requires that we attend to the details thrown up by the requirements to ensure the successful implementation of our policies and programmes.

The NCOP would serve our country and people well if it so organised its work that it gives itself the space to focus on the challenge to help our system of local government measure up to its developmental challenges.

Success in this regard will ensure that we succeed in moving forward decisively towards the achievement of the goal of a better life for all. I am certain that the NCOP will rise to this challenge and continue to stand in the front ranks of the institutions in our country committed to building a winning and people-centered society, consistent with the vision espoused in the Freedom Charter. Chairperson, hon members and fellow South Africans, I thank you for your attention. [Applause.] The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: Deputy Chairperson of the NCOP, hon President of the Republic of South Africa, hon Thabo Mbeki, Premiers and leaders of provincial delegates, hon Speakers and all members of Parliament and MPLs, leaders of local government who are present here, our traditional leaders, in particular the Chairperson of the House, Hosi Ntsanwisi, who is with us today, our two Bishops and other religious leaders who are present here, ladies and gentlemen . . .

. . . xo sungula, ndzi rhandza ku khensa Presidente ku va a hloniphile xirhambo xa nkoka wa Yindlu leyi. Eka matimu ya NCOP a ndzi tsundzuki nkarhi lowu a nga hluleka ku ta eka NCOP. Lexi i xikombiso xa leswaku u tekela swikongomelo swa Yindlu leyi enhlokweni. [Swandla.] (Translation of Xitsonga paragraph follows.)

[ . . . firstly, I would like to thank the hon President for honouring the important invitation to this House. In the history of the NCOP I do not recall him not honouring any of our invitations. This is an indication that he has high regard for the objectives of this House. [Applause.]]

I would be failing in my duty if I did not reflect on some of the issues the President raised in his annual address to this House last year. The first issue relates to the role that the NCOP should play with regard to the central task of ensuring that we further improve the participation of our people in the determination of their future, and the critical involvement of local government and traditional system of government in that process.

In the process of ensuring people’s access to Parliament, we have worked closely with local government and traditional leaders in mobilising and engaging communities to make use of this important opportunity. However, it is important that local government itself provides public participation platforms like this one in order for people to engage with government. In this regard, I am happy to state that some municipalities, such as the Amatola District Municipality in the Eastern Cape, have approached the NCOP for information on logistics of arranging events of this nature. We believe this signifies the success of this initiative.

The second issue that the President raised was the issue that relates to the need for the NCOP to assess its task and function, and to take on the task that it could not take on before because of the huge legislative work in the first 10 years of democracy. Last year, Mr President, we launched a programme of action for 2009. We did this in recognition of the fact that we need to pay attention to the process of speeding up delivery and to strengthen our role of monitoring and implementing government programmes.

The basis of this programme of action is that, during this current term of Parliament, the NCOP must spend 70% of its time and resources on oversight work and public participation, and 30% of its time towards legislative work. Programmes such as Taking Parliament to the People give us an opportunity to play our oversight role over the programmes of the executive, as permanent delegates and special delegates, because this becomes the central business of this programme.

This programme was endorsed by all the leadership of legislatures at a meeting we held in Gordon’s Bay last year. They did so because they felt it would sharpen the NCOP’s role of ensuring that the interests of provinces and local government are taken into account at national level.

However, the time has come for us to assess the impact of this programme of action. This exercise would also present us with an opportunity to ensure that the programme does advance our vision of an effective people’s Parliament, which is responsive to the needs of the people, and which is driven by the ideal of realising a better quality of life for all the people of our country.

Further, we have constantly been reviewing both our tasks and functions as part of our attempt to preserve the institution’s memory. A team of experts led by Prof Christina Murray, who has been here for the rest of the week to observe this programme, has conducted an evaluation of our monitoring oversight role and also reviewed the period 1999 to 2004 in the life of the NCOP. She works at the University of Cape Town and has been following up on an earlier exercise done for a short period before 1999.

Their observation is that, during that period, the NCOP notched up some major achievements, such as the innovation regarding oversight provincial visits. However, the greatest challenge was the failure of the NCOP to assert itself as the House that truly serves provincial needs; and the need to ensure that our provincial delegation works effectively. I hope that this picture is changing.

We are working hard to build strong liaisons with the provinces, as everyone can see that we have improved greatly in consolidating our programmes with the provinces and this has become more effective on the ground. [Applause.]

The third point that the President raised was that because the NCOP has structural and immediate access to all spheres of government, it can summon the President to come and address us as it can summon a mayor to come and address us; and whether representatives of local government should not report to the NCOP on, among other things, the functioning of the ward committees, accessibility of council meetings, popular participation and involvement in the implementation of integrated development plans.

Recently, the Select Committee on Local Government and Administration initiated public hearings on the state of municipalities, with a view to getting a better understanding of the successes and challenges that face our local government system. We see this as the beginning of a process that must put all three the spheres of government literally under one roof in the NCOP, in the spirit of co-operative governance. And I would like to thank our committee for doing this wonderful job. [Applause.]

A few months ago, when I met the representatives of the national executive of SA Local Government Association, Salga, to inform them about the intention to visit this province, we briefly discussed the issue of enhancing Salga’s participation in the NCOP. Mr President, the question from Salga around this issue is: How best can we, together, ensure that they meaningfully participate in Parliament, regarding the resolution of things that this sphere of government is facing?

At the meeting, we agreed that the NCOP should look at taking the lead in this process. As such, we intend holding a special bosberaad to look at this matter early next year; and we are going to do precisely that. I hope that the process will also begin to answer some of the issues raised by the President last year, regarding how we can improve our interaction with leaders of local government.

The fourth issue relates to the need for efficient and effective municipalities to deliver better services to the people, to ensure that poor households have better access to basic infrastructure and that the poor are provided with free basic services. This is the main challenge facing our local government at present, especially in the rural municipalities. I think, in trying to address this matter, we need to look carefully at the unique challenges that are facing the rural municipalities, when compared with the challenges that face urban or peri- urban municipalities.

The fifth point which was raised by the President is the implementation of the municipal infrastructure grant as something that makes demands on the capacity of municipalities, to strengthen the infrastructure impacting directly on improving the quality of the lives of our people.

Municipalities welcome this important initiative. However, some have voiced some concerns. They have said that the grant does not make provision for the maintenance of the infrastructure that is being built. To me, there are two possible answers to this. Firstly, municipalities need to look at the grant as an investment, not as an end in itself. As such, they need to make an allowance for such expenses on an ongoing basis. Secondly, there are those municipalities that do not generate any revenue and therefore the need to provide funds for operational expenses becomes an added burden.

We therefore need to ensure that the infrastructure that we build is sustainable and contributes to the development of these communities, so that we do not create white elephants. Obviously, some of the issues are being dealt with at the Intergovernmental Infrastructure Summit taking place in the Free State as we speak, and which the President addressed yesterday.

The sixth issue which was raised by our President relates to the need to look at the capacity of our municipality. We are all aware that many of our municipalities do not have the necessary capacity to deliver on the services the way we would like them to. We have legislation to assist local government. But is local government ready to implement? That is a question that we need to ask. For instance, with regard to the Municipal Financial Management Act, some municipalities said that they lack sufficient skilled personnel. And I would like to acknowledge the important role played by our National Treasury and Salga in ensuring that we build capacity at local government. The hands-on approach in the form of Project Consolidate is an important one, in this regard.

Recently, we conducted follow-up visits to two provinces that we have visited already, that is KwaZulu-Natal and North West. We witnessed the importance of this intervention programme in stabilising municipalities that lack capacity and resources.

While we talk about capacity, we cannot help but ask, for example: Why is it that every day we hear people complaining about the poor quality of the housing stock? Is it because we do not have inspectors? Where is the monitoring role of provinces? How does government transfer houses which are clearly of poor quality to the people? What is happening?

These are some of the difficulties and questions that we need to raise. However, a number of reasons have been advanced, among them that government takes long to approve projects and that by the time they do, costs would have escalated. Often, these delays are as a result of squabbles over the awarding of contracts.

We know that there is a huge backlog in the delivery of houses as a result of the legacy of apartheid and we highly appreciate government’s intervention, including the commitment to accelerate the housing delivery, as contained in the social contract for rapid delivery signed by the key role-players at the housing indaba in Cape Town.

A ke laetše gore ke eng tšeo di botšišitšwego ke batho ge re be re le mo beke ka moka. Sa pele e bile tlhokagalo ya meetse yeo ebilego sello se segologolo go batho. Ke leboga ge Tona Sonjica le MEC Maite Nkoana- Mashambane ba kgonne go araba dipotšišo tša lena le go hlaloša gore go šetše go na le dipolane le gore ditšhelete di šetše di abilwe go thuša batho ba tikologo ye gammogo le profensi ya Limpopo ka bophara. Ka Mošupologo Premier le yena o ile a hlaloša gore ba šetše ba abile tšhelete ya gore ba kgone go thuša batho ka meetse.

Sello sa bobedi seo se ilego sa rotošwa se malebana le mohlagase. Gape ke rata go leboga Motlatšatona wa Diminerale le Eneji gammogo le MEC Nkoana- Mashabane ge le bona ba ile ba hlaloša gore ditšhelete di gona tša go ka potlakiša morero wa kabo ya mohlagase go batho.

Taba ye nngwe yeo e ilego ya šedi gagolo mo dipolelong tša rena e mabapi le naga – mabu go batho. Tona Thoko Didiza o be a le magareng ga rena, gomme o holofeditše gore ba tla dira bobjohle go potlakiša, ka tšhomišano le diprofensi, kabo ya mabu bathong gore borakgwebo-potlana babalemi ba kgone go tšwela pele le go hwetša thušo. Re tloge re ba leboga ka kudu. (Translation of Sepedi paragraphs follows.)

[Let me cite some of the problems raised during the week that we spent there. The main problem is the shortage of water. I appreciate the fact that Minister Sonjica and MEC Maite Nkoana-Mashambane managed to respond to the questions and also explained that there are programmes in place and the necessary budget is already allocated to assist the people in the area as well as the Limpopo province at large. The premier also mentioned on Monday that there is a budget allocated for the provision of water.

The second problem raised was the shortage of electricity. I also appreciate the fact that the Deputy Minister of Minerals and Energy, together with MEC Nkoana-Mashabane for explaining to the people that there are enough funds available to speed up the process of electricity distribution.

The other significant issue in our discussion was concerning the people’s land. Minister Thoko Didiza was amongst us and she promised that they would do everything in their power, working with the various provinces, to speed up the process of land allocation, for the purpose of assisting emerging entrepreneurs in the agricultural field. We really appreciate their explanations.]

Another problem which came up was that of temporary teachers. This is not the problem of Limpopo only, but it’s a national problem. I am told that there are about 54 000 temporary teachers throughout the country. In Limpopo, there are about 10 000 temporary teachers. Some of them have been working for eight to ten years as temporary teachers. This has caused problems for all the provinces. But we are addressing that issue. You will recall that there is an Education Amendment Bill before Parliament at the moment. That Bill is trying to absorb all the temporary teachers by the coming financial year. [Applause.]

What are we going to do as the NCOP? What is the next step? The next step, Mr President, is that the NCOP will consolidate a report where our people have raised their concerns and we will be sending it to all the provinces, and not just the province of Limpopo. All Premiers will receive this report; our committees will receive and debate the report in the NCOP and invite all the Ministers, all the MECs and all the Special Delegates so that we can together assist our people. Thank you very much, Deputy Chairperson. [Applause.]

The DEPUTY CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP(Ms P M Hollander): We thank the hon Chairperson of the NCOP. I now call on the hon Premier of Limpopo, Mr S Moloto, to continue the debate. [Applause.]

The PREMIER OF LIMPOPO (Mr Sello Moloto): Deputy Chairperson, the hon President of our country, Mr Thabo Mbeki, hon Ministers and deputy Ministers, Chairperson and the Deputy Chairperson of the NCOP, Premiers here present, hon Speaker of our legislature and Speakers of other legislatures, MECs and MPLs of various provinces, hon members of the NCOP, Chairperson of Salga, the Executive Mayor of Mopani and other executive mayors, the Mayor of Tzaneen and mayors of other local municipalities, councillors of Greater Tzaneen and councillors of other municipalities, the Chairperson of the Provincial House of Traditional Leaders and other traditional leaders, stalwarts and veterans of our struggle, the leadership of various religious formations, the bishops who are here with us today, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, on behalf of the provincial government and the people of Limpopo I wish to thank hon members of the House for participating throughout this very important sitting of the NCOP. We have got no doubt that this inaugural session of the NCOP in Limpopo will go down in history as one of the most defining moments of active participatory democracy in our country.

From day one, when the sitting started, we noticed high levels of enthusiasm and commitment amongst members of the House when debating the various complex matters of local governance, water provision, agriculture, health and social security. Hon members would agree that these remain some of the most vexing challenges which are at the centre of development in this province and the country as a whole.

Hon Deputy Chairperson, as we said on Monday, the Taking of Parliament to the People Programme underscores the importance of people’s involvement in their own governance. It communicates a clear message to our people that nothing about them can ever be done without their presence and full participation. Over these last four days, we have seen our people coming forward and expressing their true feelings about issues that they feel are pertinent to their daily life experiences. We are proud of the exemplary manner in which you as members of this House have conducted yourselves towards ordinary citizens throughout your stay in our province. You were always ready to listen and to provide leadership and direction to our people on otherwise complex and varied challenges.

By taking Parliament to the people, we believe, we are beginning, in a small way, to demystify the institution of Parliament to our people. We are encouraged that this programme is also serving to nurture a model of democracy that empowers ordinary citizens to take charge of their own lives. Over these past four days, we believe you have received a first-hand account of what ordinary people are saying about our government and what kind of interventions are needed to make our country and province even better and prosperous.

We would like to congratulate the NCOP for this initiative of taking Parliament to the people. It is important that our people continue to see our institutions of democracy as their voice and aspirations. We are confident that the successful holding of this session over these past four days has indeed created an opportunity and platform for the elected representatives to account and to have a direct dialogue with the people. We have noted that most of the concerns and grievances raised are common to those which we normally encounter in our various outreach programmes such as the Exco Meets the People, Batho Pele road shows and imbizos. It is obviously comforting that most of the concerns and grievances raised inform our broad government programme, which therefore confirms that our government is indeed a people’s government.

We have rightfully said that the biggest enemy of our people remains poverty and unemployment. These challenges are further compounded by the lack of basic infrastructural developments such as a reliable road infrastructure network, electricity and water shortages. We have also said in our opening remarks that poverty in South Africa, like elsewhere in the world, has race, age, gender and geographical dimensions. It is common knowledge that poverty and high unemployment in South Africa would then be found largely amongst Africans, women and the youth who predominantly live in rural areas and townships, which symbolize a true legacy of apartheid in our land. It is therefore befitting that our government programme is geared towards eliminating this apartheid legacy, particularly targeting these sectors.

We have also drawn members’ attention to the challenge of land reform in our province during our opening remarks that about 88% of productive land in our province is under land claims. It remains true that due to uncertainties related to these land claims and the slow pace with which this challenge is attended, agricultural productivity has largely been affected. We have made inputs and suggestions to the National Land Summit on how the problem can be attended to. We hope and trust that the Department of Agriculture and Land Affairs will speedily attend to the bottlenecks identified.

We have also made the point that many parts of the province are faced with severe drought and veld fires. As you might have observed when you were traveling across the province, this drought has the potential to reverse the gains we have made since the inception of our new democracy. Crops and livestock are dying at an alarming rate and this has a devastating affect on the emerging and subsistence farmers. You might also have heard reports of hospitals, particularly in the Sekhukhune district, which are without water and therefore having difficulties in continuing to admit patients. It is, therefore, within this context that the province is now lodging a formal request to national government for intervention to declare the affected parts of the province disaster areas. We hope and trust that national government will consider this request favourably.

As the provincial government, we have gone into a process of reprioritising our budget in order to respond appropriately to this challenge. We have already decided to set aside R300 million to deal with some of these immediate challenges. As we have said, R100 million has been put aside to respond to the outcry about a lack of electricity in many of our villages. The remaining R100 million will go to the improvement of the road infrastructure network in the province. A task team has been established drawing in the officials from the provincial government, Eskom, Water Affairs and Forestry, and municipalities in order to ensure that this intervention becomes decisive and precise. We have chosen this path, Mr President, out of the understanding that our task is to serve our people. And, therefore, whatever action we take should be in the best interest of those we serve. We hold a view that we have what it takes – that is, both the capacity and the capability to rise to the occasion in order to ensure that we develop a province which all its citizens are proud to identify with.

Mr President, the people of Dipichi and the surrounding villages, like all other South Africans, feel highly indebted to you for the commitment and dedication you have shown in serving them. Your visit to these impoverished communities in the past two weeks has left an indelible mark in their lives. You have succeeded in restoring their dignity, integrity and a sense of purpose in their lives. The promise you have made about communication and therefore access to cellular phone reception has been met. Equally, the poverty alleviation projects and ICT interventions in the area have made a great impact in their lives. Everybody is over the moon. [Applause.]

You continue to be a source of inspiration and hope to all South Africans - indeed, a true servant of the people. We will forever feel indebted and grateful for what you have been to South Africa, Africa and the world. Thank you very much, Chairperson. [Applause.]

The DEPUTY CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP (Ms P M Hollander): We thank the hon Premier for his comprehensive contribution to the debate. And now we call on hon Helen Matlanyane to continue the debate.

Ms H F MATLANYANE: Chairperson, Deputy Chairperson, the President of the Republic of South Africa, Comrade Thabo Mbeki, hon premiers, our bishops, executive mayors, local mayors and our kings, I greet you. [Applause.]

The last four days of our presence in Limpopo marked yet another important and special moment in the lives of our people and in the history of our evolving democracy. Taking place towards the end of the year that marked the 50th anniversary of the Freedom Charter, our visit as the NCOP to Limpopo is an expression of the people’s Parliament in action to create work and fight poverty.

Chairperson and Comrade President, you will certainly agree that a key test for our successful democracy is not measured by the frequency and regularity of our multiparty elections, but, most importantly, the alteration of the unfavorable material conditions of the lives of the masses.

In our case, poverty, underdevelopment, disease and joblessness continue to define the lives of the overwhelming majority of the people. This is a legacy we as the ANC-led government seek to undo. In undoing this legacy, our people should at all times be at the center of these reconstruction efforts, through dynamic interfacing with their elected representatives.

In his address to the people of Tzanini and Limpopo on Wednesday, the Deputy Minister of Home Affairs, Comrade Malusi Gigaba, said:

We are here as a government and the elected representatives of our people, not to present speeches, but to listen to our people, and to hear their frustrations, challenges and aspirations. In telling us their aspirations, people should do so boldly, fearlessly and frankly without leaving any truth untold.

Certainly, these words capture the significance of the NCOP. The ``Taking Parliament to the people’’ programme is responding to the unique challenges posed by our democracy. Nowadays, Chairperson, . . .

Mo matšatšing a a mane ao re bego re le mo, re theeleditše bomma, baswa, balemi, borakgwebopotlana, bao ba phelago ka bogole, bopapa,le batho ba Limpopo kamoka ba re botša ka mokgwa wo ba tshwenyegago ka gona. Ba re botša ka moo ba dumago gore nkabe mmušo o ka ba tšwela mohola ka gona le ka moo ba bonago okare ba ka bušwa ka gona. (Translation of Sepedi paragraph follows.)

[During these four days that we have been here, we listened to the problems that the women, the youth, the farmers, emerging entrepreneurs, the disabled people, men and all the people of Limpopo encounter. They provided us with suggestions on how the government could help them as well as how they should be governed.]

The theme ``A People’s Parliament at Work’’ acknowledges that our people have an imperative role to play in our quest to address the legacy of apartheid in our country. It acknowledges our solemn commitment to working together with our people, to respond more effectively and decisively to the challenges that still confront our communities.

Ke bowe ke bontšhe gore ntweng ya rena le mmušo wa maloba wa “apartheid”, bjalo ka ANC, re re bohlokwa bja karolo yeo e ralokwago ke batho ba ga borena, ya go hlabolla le gona go tšwetša pele naga ye, e bohlokwa kudu kudu. Re e tšeela pele. (Translation of Sepedi paragraph follows.)

[Let me point out that as the ANC, we value the role that our people played in the struggle against apartheid for the sake of development in our country.]

Fifty years ago, when the people of South Africa gathered at the Congress of the People in Kliptown, in Johannesburg, they said: “The people shall govern”. It is this noble principle that informs our commitment as Parliament to deepening public participation and involvement and to building a people’s Parliament that is responsive to all the needs of all the people of South Africa.

When you interact with the people in this manner, you are indeed proving once more that our country is a model of stable and prospering participatory democracy, where the people indeed govern. We are therefore convinced that a democratic, transparent and accountable governance and administration system, in all sectors of our society, are indispensable foundations for the realisation of the social and people-centered sustainable development that we fought for.

As we were visiting Limpopo this week, we shared with the people of Limpopo our commitment to ensure that indeed the programmes that have been adopted by the ANC-led government to ensure the continued social development of our people are effectively and efficiently implemented. Many of us have witnessed how challenges that are facing our communities are further compounded by a lack of basic infrastructure development such as access to roads and electricity and water shortages.

Indeed it cannot be denied that poverty in South Africa, like elsewhere in Africa and in the whole world, has a race, age, geographic and gender dimension. It is a common fact that poverty and high unemployment rates are to be found largely amongst Africans, those who live in rural areas and among women, youth and people with disabilities.

Although people with disabilities are guaranteed access to socio-economic rights just like others, they are often denied access to existing social services and economic support because of physical barriers, such as a lack of wheelchair ramps to buildings and information that will enable them to gain access to social services and economic support.

The ANC wants to see a total removal of the assumption or perception that people with disabilities are the most marginalized groups in our society, stemming not only from prejudice and stereotyping, but, more importantly, from socio-economic deprivation. Available statistics show that poverty is rife among people with disabilities as well as among their caregivers.

People with disabilities welcome with appreciation the initiatives of government interventions, such as the Integrated National Disability Strategy, and employment equity which compels employers, both in the public and the private sector, to employ people with disabilities and the social security programme, which is biased towards them.

The youth of Limpopo, Comrade Chairperson and Comrade President, appreciated and supported the government’s initiative to address their socio-economic plight as a social sector. [Time expired.] [Applause.]

The PREMIER OF THE NORTHERN CAPE (Ms D Peters): Deputy Chairperson, Chairperson of the NCOP, hon President Thabo Mbeki, hon premiers, hon Speakers and MECs, hon members of the House, the people of Limpopo and Tzaneen in particular, ladies and gentlemen.

Mr President, somebody once said that in the south-west corner of South Africa the sun points the way to a place of clear skies, a quiet place with wide-open spaces where one can stand under star-lit skies and feel at one with the universe. The unique open blue sky, a palace of different colours, of distant stars that meet your eyes, travels through the full range of gold, yellow, pink and purple. It invites us to a window through which to explore the universe. In the Northern Cape there is a place of clear weather, cloud-free unpolluted skies, a gateway to walking with the ancestors.

Ladies and gentlemen, it is exciting that the Northern Cape hosts the Southern African Light Telescope, SALT, as it is commonly known. Africa’s giant eye will be launched by our President on 10 November 2005. This international project puts our province squarely on the map of international science and technology research into the universe and its exploration. We are told this giant eye will make it possible for astronomers to be able to explore, amongst others, the scale and age of the universe. So, if you want to know the beginning of all beginnings, you should come to the Northern Cape, the land of contrasts. [Applause.]

We as a province are totally in support of the call by our President and government that service delivery to our people needs to be improved and accelerated. Failure to do this will be a betrayal of the majority who entrusted all their aspirations and hope to the democratic government. Similarly, the evil of corruption and mismanagement robs our people of the opportunity created by our democratic constitution, a better life and prosperity.

The Northern Cape provincial government is determined to ensure improved quality and service delivery. To this end, we have worked hard since the beginning of our current term to step up management in the administration, especially financial management. We were mindful that the targets we set ourselves in the PGDS will not be realised if we do not improve service delivery and use our resources efficiently. I have therefore ordered my executive council to go on a belt-tightening exercise without compromising service delivery and this decision is beginning to yield positive results. Today we are in a far better position in terms of our financial management systems and enforced compliance to all laws and regulations, especially the PFMA.

When the current terms started, we had a debt of R845 million and prophets of doom predicted a collapse of services in this part of our country and today, Mr President, 18 months down the line, we have managed as a province to bring it down to about R400 million. By end of this current financial year of 2005-06, we will have reduced our debts by a further R173 million. This will leave us with a reduced figure of R223 million, which we intend to extinguish by the 2007-08.

The debt redemption strategy I have ordered and which is fully supported by all MECs and HODs is indeed working and will be completed sooner than originally planned.

At our recent budget lekgotla we resolved not to allow any material overexpenditure or underexpenditure in the administration. I am proud to announce that there has been a major improvement in our 2004-05 audit outcomes. Whereas in the 2003-04 audit outcomes we had four departments getting unqualified audit opinions and many of them getting disclaimers, today we have nine departments getting unqualified audit opinions. [Applause]. This is a major improvement, which shows our determination to improve governance and service delivery.

In the previous 2003-04 financial year, we closed the books with R245 million overdraft and at the end of 2004-05 we ended with R98 million overdraft. Our facility with Standard Bank is for R50 million and we used only R3 million. The other facility is with the Reserve Bank for R95 million and is charged at lower interest rates. By the end of this 2005-06 financial year we project to break even without having compromised any service delivery. In fact, the standard of service delivery has improved drastically.

For the end of 2004-05 financial year we had a net unauthorized expenditure of R60 million, compared to the R269 million unauthorized expenditure in the 2003-04 financial year. Mr President, the HODs in my province actually say that if they see an SMS from my cell phone they think about potential red lights flickering.

The Northern Cape had the rare opportunity of being visited by both the President and Deputy President in the last six months. We had the opportunity to engage with citizens of our province in an effort to create partnerships with our people to fight poverty and unemployment.

This has increased the possibility for all representatives of all citizens to interact with government at all levels to ensure that our system of governance functions in a manner that empowers our people. The President and Deputy President held Project Consolidate multiple izimbizos in Francis Baard and Siyanda. Three other Ministers held municipal izimbizos in three other districts. During these sessions it was noted that there was a need to address the skills shortage in all districts. We are one of those provinces that have serious problems of skills retention and we are unable to attract the necessary qualified people to our province, mainly because of the vastness of the distances and the lack of amenities and facilities in parts of the province.

As part of the strategy to deal with this province, the De Beers Mining Group has offered to the Francis Baard and Namaqua districts mentorship and skills training for their officials in such areas as finance, project management, financial planning as well as general management and engineering. Our introduction of ward committees and that of CDWs has had the impact of bringing government closer to its citizens through public participatory processes. Ward committees are an important platform and an arena for providing fertile opportunity for community interest to be represented. In earnest, ward committees should be used to mobilise the broadest range of progressive interests in the community, and it is there to facilitate active service delivery and responses from the municipality. The practical problems facing ward committees should not be underestimated and the ward committees would need strong institutional support from municipalities to carry out their responsibilities.

We have noted as a province that there has been a serious lack of communication between ward committees, ward councillors and the municipalities in general. Most of our municipalities have no budget to support ward committees. Whilst the majority of ward committee members are unemployed, some ward committee members accepted to serve with the belief that ward committees are an entry point to a possible job, a project or a tender. Committed ward committee members are unable to serve vast wards without means of transport. Contest for resources and access to information by ward committee members and community development workers, the CDWs, creates role confusion between CDWs and ward committees. In most instances ward committee members indicated that they are being sidelined in decision- making by municipalities.

We have successfully recruited more than 200 CDWs who were contracted for a 12-month period on a learnership and 187 of them have successfully completed their 12-month learnership and training programme. This group will graduate on Tuesday, 8 November 2005, at a ceremony presided over by the Minister of Public Service and Administration, Geraldine Fraser- Moleketi, at Kuruman.

CDWs have been absorbed into the public service with effect from 1 October

1. [Time expired.]

The DEPUTY CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP (Ms P M Hollander): There is an announcement to make before I call the next speaker, and that is due to the electricity cuts. We would like the cooperation of each member who has to come up and speak and take part in the debate to sacrifice one minute each to ensure that we conclude by 13:00 hours, as the hon President has to leave at that time. We thank in advance those who will sacrifice more than one minute.

The PREMIER OF THE EASTERN CAPE (Ms N Balindlela): Mr President, Deputy Chairperson of the NCOP, premiers, speakers, members of the national and provincial legislatures, chairperson of SALGA, councillors, stalwarts, religious formations, traditional leaders, comrades and friends, allow me to express my appreciation for having the opportunity to address this joint sitting of the House as we collectively continue to work for the betterment of the lives of our people.

This indeed is in keeping with our principled commitment of not abandoning the poor as we put our people’s contract into practice. Mr President, allow me also to convey a sincere and deep message from the community of St Nicholas school at Libode. This community has been suffering, with more than 10 children dying on the road because of the lack of speed bumps. Your visit, Mr President, gave life to that community. [Applause.]

They have now invited me to invite you to come and launch the establishment of the bumps at Libode. They are grateful to you, Mr President. We are, however, a little bit embarrassed as to why it had to wait for the President to bring it to our attention. That is something that is worrying us as the executive, and as result we launched the operation ‘Icingephi’, because the President wanted to find out how on earth can so many children die on one road and nothing is being done about it. So, Mr President, this operation has helped us a lot. [Applause.]

We are trying to cut the beaurocratic tangles short so that we can get to the people as soon as possible.

Taba e kgolo ke go hlokomela setšhaba sa rena. Kudu kudu bahloki, baswa, basadi goba badikobo-dikguswana. [The main concern is to take care of our nation, especially the poor, the youth, the women, because they are needy.]

We have also finished a year of looking at our provincial growth and development. Mr President, we have realised that it is time for us to delve into monitoring and evaluation. The province is at work; it has started its socioeconomic baseline. The province is now having an electronic M&E process, which is monitoring and evaluation. Thank you very much to the Free State province, which has shared with us its own best practice. We visited them. [Applause.]

But, Mr President, because we are a province that always wants to show that we can learn best practices from other provinces, we also visited Limpopo. We visited Limpopo because they have best practices in education. [Applause.] We have been very worried because in our democracy Limpopo used to be last province on the list of education results.

Noko nathi sasiyibetha iLimpopo le, kodwa ngoku . . . [We also use to beat Limpopo province but now . . . ] . . . it is getting the highest matriculation exemptions. IMpuma koloni isekugqibeleni. [The Eastern Cape is last on the list.] We don’t accept that. [Applause.]

So I would like to thank the Premier of Limpopo, who has really helped us. There is an exchange of staff members and we are also learning a lot from them. However, there is also something that can be learnt from the Eastern Cape province. As you all know, when it comes to our social development, we have come up with turnaround plans. We are no longer a province that manufactures grants – as bicycles are manufactured in China. [Laughter.] You also all know that we have the best practices when it comes to EPWP and the National Arts Festival, which we pride ourselves in.

Mr President, we have a very strong team when it comes to our oversight function. Thank you very much to NCOP and to the people who visit the province and of course to our own legislature, who make possible for us to sit and to work very hard. So far the province is priding itself in the fact that in this year we aimed to create 200 000 jobs, but according to Statistics South Africa we have created 285 000 jobs in the Eastern Cape.

Mr President, to us that shows that we are able to evaluate and monitor ourselves. We know that we are still faced with a lot of problems. The more you create, the more it is very clear . . .

. . . okokuba abantu basasokola kakhulu kanga ngento yokuba naloo mathuba omsebenzi esiwadalileyo sifumanisa ukuba ingathi awakenzi nto ngoba inzulu kakhulu imeko esisuka kuyo. [ . . . that people are still suffering. As a result, even the job opportunities that we create are next to nothing because of the depth of our situation.] I just want to quickly say that the majority of these projects are reliant on the principle of partnership between the state, private sector, donor funding and our communities.

We are emphasising manufacturing in our PGDP . . . ngoba kulapho abantu bethu bayakufumana amakhono okwenza. [ . . . because that is where our people will get skills.] Thank you, then, to General Motors who came to our province and now we have a contract with them. They have won the world’s largest contract to manufacture Hyundai vehicles. I am happy that I managed to pronounce this word properly. [Laughter.] That is giving us hope and that is also giving u something to do.

The European Union funding is also helping us, particularly in our poor communities. They are asked to borrow sufficiently in order to cover their capital. Lastly I would like to say that the Eastern Cape is a province at work and it is rolling up its sleeves because it wants to make sure that it reaches those abandoned poor communities. Next week we will be launching the giving of title deeds to all those women who have been sitting with a big burden on their shoulders: that of managing a house that is dilapidated, but being asked to pay some arrears and sometimes going through the problem of having their own few possessions repossessed because of that title-deed issue.

The Eastern Cape province is looking hard at Dimbaza, Mdantsane and other areas. We are also very happy that our programme so far has gone very well.

Ndiyabulela kakhulu. Bendiza kuthi ke ukuba bekunga- ngxanywanga makuculwe laa ngoma ithi: “Laphuma ilanga awusandiboni; latshon’ilanga awusandiboni, soka lam”. Ithi ke “Sakudibana emlanjeni” Culani. [Kwahlekwa.] [Kwaqhwatywa.] (Translation of isiXhosa paragraph follows.)

[Thank you very much. I was going to say if there wasn’t a problem of time constraints, we should sing that song that says: “Sunset comes, you don’t see me; sunrise comes, I am not there, my boyfriend”. It says: “We will meet at the river”. Sing with me.] [Laughter.] [Applause.]

The DEPUTY CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP (Ms P M Hollander): Thank you, hon Premier of the Eastern Cape, for your comprehensive contribution to the debate.

Mr A WATSON: Agb Voorsitter, agb Mnr President Mbeki, agb Voorsitter van die NRVP, agb Mnr Mahlangu, agb ander lede van Nasionale Raad van Provinsies, hooggeplaasdes, dames en here . . . [Hon Chairperson, hon Mr President Mbeki, hon Chairperson of the NCOP, Mr Mahlangu, hon members of the NCOP, dignitaries, ladies and gentlemen . . .] “Dumalang kaofela mo fatsing la Limpopo lemagosi agona.” [Good morning, all in Limpopo province, including the chiefs.][Applause.]]

Sanibonani nani nonke bomphakathi baseLimpopo nabafundisi abakhona la namhlanje. [Good morning to all of the Limpopo community and the religious leaders here today.]

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Chairperson, the principle of taking Parliament to the people has always been supported by my party, but we have often expressed our reservations about many aspects of past exercises in this regard, as you will know. We have always felt that these extensions have been dominated by VIP speeches and there has been too little true interaction with the people themselves.

However, this particular session of the NCOP, of bringing the Parliament to a working situation with the people of Limpopo, has been different in many respects and I wish to pay tribute to the leadership of Mr MJ Mahlangu, the Chairperson of the NCOP, for the way this visit has been structured and has taken place so far. [Applause.] Yes, you can give him some applause. He did a good job. It has been refreshing to hear people interact openly about the problems that affect their daily lives and to hear responses from Ministers and others who admit their shortcomings and offer solutions rather than to fall into the trap of making excuses.

So at last, Chairperson, we have a parliament that works together with the people. I believe that it is not incidental that the media has at last taken cognisance of these actions. But, hon President, if I may refer to you, these interactions have also highlighted pertinent problems that the people of South Africa continuously come across in their daily lives. These are problems that my party has alluded to for a long time, but for which we have continuously shut down.

The first is that the level of service delivery and the betterment of the lives of our people leave much to be desired. In my province alone, part of which you have referred to, I regularly interact with many people who cannot reach their homes by motor vehicles because of the state of the roads. The only available water is from streams or communal bore holes, a long distance away from their homes.

But at the heart of it all, as has been said by many here today and this week, is the lack of capacity and of course the ever-present twin devils of corruption and nepotism. But, Mr President, we believe that those two devils can be tempered by good governance. We could today point to the fact that we continually warned against the unbalanced application of empowerment by replacing trained and experienced people and particularly in municipal offices with people who are totally inadequately qualified. We said that was negative transformation. In fact, I alluded to this very fact during the debate of your erstwhile deputy, Mr Zuma, while parliament was in Mpumalanga earlier this year.

I must say, sir, I got a real whipping of words. I must also admit today that I don’t feel too bad after all - I am still here addressing you. But for me to stand here today and say we told you, sir, even though we did tell you so, that won’t help solve the problem. I’d rather thank you, Mr President, for tackling the problem head on by your endeavours to head-hunt suitably qualified engineers, municipal officials, municipal managers and the like. We also applaud organisations and professional bodies like the Afrikaanse Handelsinstituut who have indicated their willingness and ability to help.

I will cut some of my speech short in response to the request of the Chief Whip. Let me conclude by referring to closing remarks made today by one of the provincial panelists here in this hall. This gentleman urged the people to pursue solutions to the problems and not to give up. He said, “If a councillor does not solve your problem, go the MPL. If the MPL does not help, go to the MEC. If the MEC does not help, then go to the premier. And indeed, if the premier does not help, then you have to go directly to the President.” But Chairperson, I want to say to the people that there is a much shorter route to success. Come straight to the DA. We do not pass the buck. Thank you. [Laughter.] [Applause.] [Order.]

The PREMIER OF KWAZULU-NATAL (Mr J S Ndebele): Chairperson, his Excellency the President of the Republic, hon Chairperson of the NCOP, members of the NCOP, premiers, ladies and gentlemen, I come from a very vibrant, multiparty province and that is why I was following the last speaker who talked about devious arrangements. Let us say today: “Ke le tlišetša madume go tšwa KwaZulu-Natal. Re a lotšha.” [KwaZulu-Natal sends its regards. We greet you. [Applause.]]

We say to the Muslim community: Jumaah Mubarak, Eid Mubarak.[May the blessings and peace of Eid be upon you.]

Thirty years ago I was campaigning in this part of the world. I was still partly at the University of the North but based in Swaziland. It is being on familiar ground to be here today and it is 18 months after we have established a democratic order in KwaZulu-Natal, a peaceful province, a democratic province, a developmental province.

It is a province that has vigorously adopted a new partnership for development, not only in the continent of South Africa and, particularly, KwaZulu-Natal. Part of Nepad is also the adoption of the African Peer Review Mechanism. We do not see that African Peer Review Mechanism as just a continental mechanism or a South African mechanism but a mechanism for KwaZulu-Natal, an instrument for our people to gauge, to measure development and delivery by government.

Yesterday, in 11 district municipalities we said we are adopting that African Peer Review Mechanism also for local government to ensure that our people are able to measure what they voted for and whether that delivery happens, not only after five years but continuously.

The main thrust of the African Peer Review Mechanism processes is for different stakeholders to answer the following questions: For KwaZulu-Natal people, how has the government performed since 2004? How is it performing in each municipality? This thrust is enhanced by the Premier’s Co- ordinating Forum, which is very active and embraces all local government structures.

There are some success stories with regard to economic development. The forging ahead of co-operative assistance, mainly to women in our society, to actively participate in small sustainable businesses and the development of small and upcoming entrepreneurs through co-operatives, is facilitated by our government. We can state here that the status of co-operative business plans by our financial arm, Ithala . . . we happen to be the only province that owns a bank . . . the number of business plans that have been received this year is 785, the number of business plans approved is 516, totalling an amount of R60,9 million. The number of female co-operatives funded is 241; the number of youth co-operatives funded is 170 and the number of mixed co-operatives, that is, men and women, is 105.

The aforementioned statistics indicate that people are beginning to come together in a spirit of co-operation to empower themselves, one another, their communities and their country. Central to our government’s economic policy is the promotion of the development of emerging economic enterprises and diversifying ownership, size and geographic location of those enterprises. To give meaning to this policy, we outlined the developmental challenges, which resulted in a decision to establish three centralised funds, namely the Poverty Alleviation Fund, the SMME Fund and the Provincial Growth Fund. Through these funds we intend to give government, through direct and integrated intervention, the means to deliver measurable, visible and sustainable results while creating employment and alleviating poverty.

In our provincial budget speech this year we announced a centralised poverty alleviation fund to the tune of R500 million to spend in the current financial year. The amount of R110 million of the poverty alleviation fund has been set aside to fund the establishment and support of co-operatives in the 2005-6 financial year. The Ithala Development Finance Corporation, which is owned by our government, is entrusted with management and augmentation of this fund from its own reserves on at least a rand-to- rand basis. To access these funds, the established co-operatives need to go through training offered by the nine recapitalised further- education and training colleges, the FETs, and 74 delivery sights throughout KwaZulu-Natal.

Since the commencement of the co-operative training in February this year, approximately 1 900 co-operatives have been trained. Despite the particular victories scored over the past 11 years of our democracy, ours remains a society marked by inequality; a society where the majority of our people still live in abject poverty.

In the light of these realities we need to take heed of the warning that we cannot pause for a moment but must examine afresh the obstacles in our path and see how to overcome them. Ours cannot be a democracy where government does things on behalf of the people. The people must take charge of their own lives.

Chairperson, our province is afflicted by many ills that will afflict any developing society. Like our forebears correctly decided in 1955, the struggle to bring about a nonracial, nonsexist and democratic South Africa could not be the proclivity of a select few, so KwaZulu-Natal decided to intensify public participation. It is indeed very apt that this week’s theme is People’s Parliament at Work Together with Our People. In keeping with this theme the provincial government has been reaching out to communities, taking government to the people. A historic full sitting of the KwaZulu-Natal provincial legislature took place in Estcourt, Emtshezi last week . . . Members of the provincial legislature together with MECs were interacting with people on a daily basis throughout that week. Members of the provincial legislature were engaged by the communities on issues that matter to them.

The people also got the opportunity to experience the working of the legislature, as policy heads of departments were able to explain their policies and resolve problems directly with the people. On the last day of the sitting, the Speaker’s Responsibility Programme was launched which, among other things, lodged ongoing interaction between Parliament and communities throughout the province. It was also in that sitting that we elected a new Deputy Speaker, Madam Johnson. Hence, together with our people, we will succeed in transforming society and building a province in South Africa we can all be proud of. Indeed we can do as we continue to make the People’s Parliament work together with our people.

KwaZulu-Natal is on a march, the developmental march, and it is the province that knows violence and therefore can never return to it. Thank you very much.

Mr M A MZIZI: Chairperson, Your Excellency the President of the Republic of South Africa and, protocol observed, in responding to the address of the President, one can come to only one conclusion, that is to say to the President that taking Parliament to the people has been seen in different ways from all corners of South Africa. There are perceptions that this is a waste of the taxpayers’ money. There are perceptions that this is a party campaign. Let us assume the latter is correct, then one would expect that the audience assembled here belongs to the ruling party. [Applause.]

And I may go on and say that if that should be the case, then the different parties around here would have no say. If you campaign, then I would also campaign. Let us do likewise. That perception would fall away completely. Probably to remind Mr Watson over there, when he tells people to come to the DA. My King once said that where a Zulu has put his foot down, that area belongs to the Zulus. Be careful. [Applause.]

Taking Parliament to Limpopo, the third province being visited by the NCOP, has further opened our eyes and broadened our minds. One can have a clear mind of how to give proper services to different provinces and their inhabitants’ required needs.

Mafelong ao re fihlilego go wona mo Limpopo, batho ba re boditše dilo tše ntši. Eupša re humane gore sera se segologolo go batho ba Limpopo ke tlhokagalo ya meetse. Mopresidente, le wene o ka iponela ka a gago gore difahlegong tša bona go ngwadilwe fela KO-ME-LE-LO. Go a mangwe mafelo re humane gore ditsela ga di sepelege gomme dikoloi tše kgolo ga di kgone go fihla moo batho ba lego ntshe.

Morena Moloto o tloge o šomile ka bonatla go hlokomela lešaba le la Thulare. Ka baka la nako yeo ke e neilwego, ke bile mafelong a mabedi fela moo ke ilego ka etela le ba bangwe. (Translation of Sepedi paragraphs follows.)

[A lot of problems have been raised in the places that we have been to here in Limpopo. But the major problem is the shortage of water. Mr President, you have witnessed it with your own eyes; D-R-O-U-G-H-T was spelled the faces of all of them. In some areas we discovered that roads are in such a poor condition that the heavy vehicles cannot go across to the other side.

Mr Moloto, you have done a good job in taking care of these people. Due to time constraints, a few others and I only managed to visit two places.] We went to a farm called Berlin. There were quite a lot of things said on that farm. It is a trust farm. There are CPAs on that farm. The claim was lodged some time back in 1988. It is believed that there is a counterclaim lately that has been processed. It is most unfortunate that process will now have to go to court. The court has to pronounce who actually takes charge of that trust, so that the people can go on with their lives. My dilemma is now: Who will process and who takes on the burden of this process? This needs to be solved as soon as possible. We also visited a school called Mawumba. It is not the only problem. [Time expired.]

The PREMIER OF THE NORTH WEST (Ms B E E Molewa): Thank you very much, hon Chairperson and Deputy Chairperson of the NCOP, the hon President Mr Mbeki, allow me to end there with the recognition of protocol because indeed that has already been done. This is not out of disrespect but just to try to save time. I would also like to contribute on behalf of the North West delegation to this august House. Before I do so, I would like to just speak about an issue, something that took place in this House a few days ago, which really concerns some of us.

Vanhu va ka hina , vavasati va te va loko vulavula laha va ku a va rhandzi Nawu lowu vuriwaka Domestic Violence Act hikuva wu va tisela swiphiqo emakaya. Leswi swa karhata hikuva nawu lowu wu endleriwile leswaku vavasati na vona va va na demokhirasi na ntshunxeko.

A ndzi kombela leswaku hi endla ku ri NCOP na Mfumo wa Swifundzankulu laha Limpopo hi tirhanyana leswaku hi hlamula Nawu lowu leswaku vanhu va swi twisisa ku ri hikwalaho ka yini hi ri na wona. [Swandla.] (Translation of Xitsonga paragraphs follows.)

[Our women, in their speeches here, indicated that they had reservations about the Domestic Violence Act because this Act created problems for them at home. This is a problem, because this Act was created to extend democracy and freedom to our women.

I would request the NCOP and the provincial government of Limpopo to work harder at explaining the importance of this Act to our people. [Applause.]]

On behalf of the delegation of the North West province and the people of the North West, I would like to express our sincere gratitude indeed for being allocated these few minutes and this slot to speak in this august House where we demonstrate as South Africans real democracy at work. Indeed, today we are not only experiencing democracy in action, but we also have a chance as the people of Nkowankowa to see and access for ourselves the people that we have elected to represent us in Parliament.

In August this year, in Taung, which is a very rural area of our province in the Bophirima region, the North West province also had a similar experience during the visit by the NCOP where our people spoke and indeed where our people engaged with the people on all the political, economic and social issues affecting their lives. The point we are trying to make with this remark is that indeed South Africa has changed and is continuing to change. The people in deep rural areas, as in Taung and Nkowankowa, and many other people in rural areas now know what it feels like to be amongst those who are considered as people, as first-class citizens of this country as well. [Applause.]

From the onset, our people understood that the object - the exercise - was to assume collective responsibility as government and the people, and to promote integrated intergovernmental relations for the betterment of their lives. One particular observation we made during these engagements with the people was that the national government, the provincial government, the municipalities and indeed the legislative arm of our government were continuing to improve on our ability to work in an integrated manner. This visit by the NCOP to Nkowankowa this week is a real improvement on the one we experienced in our province, and we would like to congratulate you for that. [Applause.]

We are proud of our now entrenched tradition in the North West province in terms of which we make interventions arising directly out of the engagements with our communities. We would like to give here an example of a housing project, which was blocked for a very, very long time in Taung. It was only after the NCOP had been there that the project began and indeed was unblocked. [Applause.] We have no doubt that the programmes we have already put in place, including our provincial growth and development strategy: 2004 to 2014, will yield the necessary and much-needed results very soon.

We are indeed certain that the same benefits in service delivery will accrue to the community of Tzaneen and to nearby areas as a direct result of bringing Parliament to the people. If anyone ever doubted our commitment to entrenching democracy and democratic principles in general - taking Parliament to the people - the mobility that the NCOP has demonstrated has assured everyone that we take the notion of government of the people by the people very, very seriously.

Hon Chairperson, the North West province would like to assure you, and indeed this NCOP, that we have noted very well what the people in our province have said about weaknesses in and experiences of our system. The hon President indicated these weaknesses relating to capacity, etc, this morning. As they did in Taung, here in Nkowankowa our people pointed out areas of weakness, particularly regarding the local government sphere in delivering services effectively. We would like to indicate that indeed in this House some two days ago a proposal was made regarding the need to ensure that the powers and functions of housing delivery were actually assigned to the municipalities. The Minister of Housing was here and she indicated that indeed that was a necessity.

But we would like to point out and argue that indeed we should actually put ahead and ahead of everything else – all other services - the delivery of services in relation to housing as having very high priority, and not the assignment of powers.

We are delighted indeed that as we speak today we have had a breakthrough in the North West province. We are one of the provinces that has had a backlog and blockages in housing delivery. As we speak today, those blockages have been unblocked, and indeed it has been indicated and stated in various Minmec meetings that we are now delivering in full swing. This is an indication that we are indeed committed to delivering, on a local government level, basic services that are really required by the people.

We listened to the people of Nkowankowa yesterday as they emotionally, but with great respect and humility, talked about the issue and problem of housing. Indeed, we believe that as a country and as the North West province we’ve taken heed of what they said, and we will continue to improve on service delivery regarding houses. We do believe indeed that this is necessary.

The North West province has done relatively well in the delivery of services relating to electricity. Indeed, there are areas in which we are still behind, and these are related to the issue of sanitation and the delivery of water, particularly in deep rural areas. Relating to sanitation, we are aware that one of the reasons is that we have a shortage particularly of underground water, like the Limpopo province, but we have had a very successful increase and improvement in the delivery of sanitation even though it is an improvement of about 20% to 30% over the past three to four years.

We’ve also begun introducing a very tight mechanism that will enable us to spend all allocated funds, because we have detected that this is a very sore issue in our municipalities and also in the provincial government. We would like to assure this House that indeed the mechanisms that we have introduced will help us to spend those funds that we’ve been allocated. As our hon colleague Dipuo Peters indicated, one is not able to elaborate on those measures.

We believe that South Africa is on the right track regarding the new approach adopted in order to achieve a high growth percentage in the economy, which is the envisaged 6%. Our North West provincial government and the development strategy also make the point that for the North West to grow, we require 6,6% per annum to create jobs and to fight poverty.

We would like to assure this House and the hon President that indeed we will do everything in our power to work hard, together with all our stakeholders, to achieve this economic growth. But, yes, we must make the point that this House must state that all role-players must be on board so that it is not just government that plays a role. Everybody must play his or her role including labour. I thank you, Chairperson. [Applause.]

Mr N D HENDRICKS (UIF): Hon Chairperson, His Excellency the President, all protocol observed because of the lack of time. Our world-renowned Constitution gives a comprehensive expression about the freedom and equality of all South Africans. It further speaks of a co-operative government in that the voices of the people shape the future of this country. As we build our democratic state, the only capable institution to drive this daunting process, in partnership with the people themselves, is none other than Parliament itself.

The NCOP represents the provinces to ensure that provincial interests are taken into account in the national sphere of government. In this context, the NCOP starts with the passing of various laws, which, after their enactment, need to be properly checked as to whether the various levels of government are succeeding in implementing them.

Our building of a people-centred society should be informed by the urgent need of restoring human dignity. This should centre on an understanding that, irrespective of our social and economic standing, we are all entitled to certain basic quality-of-life programmes, such as social security and education. Sustainable economic development can assist in reversing the shocking state of affairs in which millions of our people live.

For millions of disadvantaged people in our country, their daily suffering is immediate, whilst the Constitution’s guarantees seem a distant ideal. Taking Parliament to the people, therefore, should be about engaging sensibly with the people and all other stakeholders about what their problems are, highlighting their success stories and earmarking all problem areas for remedial action.

Taking the parliamentary roadshow to the masses is a noble idea. Since its inception it has facilitated genuine interaction between members of the public and their elected representatives. This exercise, as informed by the letter and spirit of Batho Pele, should not be reduced to a mere talk shop. It should be followed by a concrete plan of action that seeks to address all the problems and challenges identified.

Mr President, the question of effective intergovernmental relations, especially between the provincial and local spheres of our government, leaves much to be desired. There needs to be an integrated approach to service delivery in areas such as housing and local economic development, as these seem to be the areas in which serious problems are surfacing.

I’m sure, hon President, that the new intergovernmental relations framework legislation will go far in addressing the current dysfunctional relations between these spheres of government. [Time expired.] [Applause.]

Mr A MASONDO (Salga): The President of South Africa His Excellency Mr Thabo Mbeki, the hon Chairperson of the NCOP, Mr M J Mahlangu, members of Parliament present here today, premiers and members of provincial legislatures, leaders of Salga, traditional leaders, members of the community, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, we are honoured to be part of this important plenary of the NCOP to take Parliament to the people, in this regard, the people of Limpopo.

Organised local government, as a component of the NCOP, is honoured to participate in all these activities that have helped to take Parliament closer to the people. As Salga, we have tended to emphasise the need to encourage public participation and respect for human rights and the actual improvement in service delivery as some of the important elements to deepen democracy in our country.

The building of a better society throughout accelerated service delivery, is indeed consistent with the guiding principles and values of our country as enshrined in the Freedom Charter, and also the contract we’ve entered into with various constituencies in the last national as well as provincial government elections.

In the new system of local government, municipalities have to be firmly entrenched in communities. A difining feature of the new system is the space it offers to ordinary people to become actively involved in governance. In fact, the legal definition of a municipality is that it comprises not just councillors and administration but the local community as well.

Deriving from this definition, each of these interrelated components has certain specific rights and duties. These are based on the Constitution as set out mainly in the Municipal Systems Act. Among the objects of the local government as stated in the Constitution are the following:

To provide democratically accountable government to local communities; and to encourage involvement of communities and community organisations in matters of local government.

In terms of the Municipal Systems Act, a municipality must develop a culture of municipal governance that complement former representative government with the system of participatory governance. The Act makes it clear that residents have a right to contribute to the municipality’s decision-making process. They also have the right to submit recommendations and complaints to the council and are entitled to prompt responses.

They, the residents, have a right to, amongst others, regular disclosure of the state of affairs of the municipality, including its finances. Our understanding of democracy is centered on not just the holding of periodic and regular elections, but on an active participatory process that ensures ongoing consultation with communities and civil society organizations.

I am sure that during the past few days the people of Limpopo, the women, the youth, the unemployed, the business sector, the farmers, the workers and many more, have had the opportunity to express themselves on the challenges experienced by people in this province. In turn, the public representatives had indicated both what work had been done and what still needed to be done.

With Parliament in Cape Town, the vast majority of our people, in particular the poorest, who came from the rural parts of our country, yearn for more contact. Over and above the various mechanisms that exist, such as the Parliamentary constituency offices, provincial legislatures and offices, ward committees, iimbizo, the people who long for additional points of contact with the public representatives. Their quest is to engage directly with Parliament.

Indeed, our view is that the NCOP is a very important institution in that it brings together, in its fold, the national, provincial and local legislatures, thus providing an opportunity and a platform to tackle the challenges of service delivery, issues of governance and economic development.

The leadership of organised local government, both at national and provincial levels, is always encouraging councillors as they interact with communities and discharge their responsibilities, to be guided by the needs, to be ever service oriented, to strive for excellence in service delivery and to commit to continuous service delivery improvements.

As elected local representatives, we believe that water is life and sanitation is dignity. That electricity, roads, housing and other much- needed infrastructures can only be effectively delivered if our approach is integrated. The Municipal Systems Act clearly stipulates that municipal councils have to ensure that means are devised to support councillors in their work.

The individual speakers of council have, for example in the context of a collective, to access the need to embark on training of all councillors and develop the relevant support mechanisms.

The South African Local Government Association, Salga, has developed a number of programmes to enable councillors to develop a better understanding of their roles and responsibilities. These include, amongst others, the core councillor training programme; the municipal office bearer’s handbook and the proposal, which we have put forward, of political institutional restructuring, but we know that indeed, a lot more still needs to be done; the effective and speedy delivery of services; the ongoing improvement on development plans and actual implementation of such programmes; the fight against poverty; the need to address challenges posed by the demand for quality service delivery at the local government level, often with limited and scarce resources available at our disposal; the need to provide assistance to municipalities through research; ongoing advice and support.

We believe that time has come to move beyond relying on consultants, crisis interventions and other interim measures and to put in place effective and well-skilled senior management in municipalities, who will be equal to the task at hand. To encourage participatory forms of government, we believe that communities should fully participate in the governance of their municipalities by, inter alia, participating in the preparations, implementation and review of IDPs, establishment, implementation and review of municipality’s performance management systems, monitoring review of municipality’s performance as well as the preparation of municipal budgets.

We need to get all ward committees resourced and fully functional. The need to review councillor support, including remuneration and taking into account costs associated with baseline services such as constituency work and facilities needed to make their work efficient and effective.

As Salga, we have always encouraged municipalities to make effective use of the resources available. This involves, amongst others, maximising their revenue base, collecting revenue that is due and ensuring that spending is efficient and focused, amongst others, on the delivery of basic services. [Time Expired.] [Applause.]

The CHIEF WHIP OF THE COUNCIL: Hon Chairperson, Deputy Chairperson of the NCOP, His Excellency the hon President of the Republic of South Africa, premiers, speakers, leaders of Salga present here, hon members of our legislatures, both NCOP and all provincial legislatures, our honoured traditional leaders and religious leaders, distinguished guests, friends and comrades as well as the people of Limpopo. Avuxeni! [Greetings.]

I will sacrifice more than three minutes of my time. I would like to start by saying that the Freedom Charter clearly states that the people shall govern. When you further read that clause it says: “The people should participate in the administration of their country”. This is indeed in line with the Council’s undertaking to take the Parliament to the people of South Africa, in this instance, the people of Limpopo in the Tzaneen region.

Of course, we were here together with all three spheres of government. People came from all walks of life, able and people with disabilities, black and white. It is just unfortunate that when we were coming here, some of the opposition parties decided to play cheap politics about this. They are creative not only in helping our people, but also in coming with new political concepts. For example, they named this programme “political tourism” which, with due respect, I take it as nonsensical, because when you tour, you only tour to look at animals and other things which cannot talk. [Applause.]

The very same parties will be coming to these people in few weeks to request their votes. I am very surprised when the hon Watson says he is now appreciative of this programme, because his party Whip clearly stated in a newspaper that by them coming here, they are being taken hostage politically. But one is not amazed because they are used to addressing a few people in House meetings. When they see these thousands of people, they feel that they are being imprisoned, they are held hostage. [Applause.]

But of course, we will continue. We won’t stop visiting our people, because this noble programme has really made it a point that we can hear the plight of our people, we can get the challenges which municipalities are facing, we can get challenges which provincial departments are facing and by that we can be in a position to clearly play our oversight role as the NCOP in trying to assist to enhance service delivery to our people.

Before I close, because I have decided to leave my speech and cut it short in the interest of time, we must say that we cannot expect these thousands and thousands of people to fly to Cape Town in order to express themselves, because they don’t have those millions. It’s us who must use our budgets to come and listen to the people. [Applause.]

And I will advise that if the people find that their problems have not been solved when they go to municipalities or provincial governments, I will advise them not to go to the DA, because the DA is not in power. It is not a ruling party. They would rather come to the NCOP. We are prepared to assist them. [Applause.]

They must not listen to parties which, in the words of the hon premier of the Eastern Cape, are number mgqutsu [last.] [Laughter.]

While we are saying this, we must also say that we find it unacceptable that certain departments and also municipalities still roll over funds at the expense of nondelivery. That will not be accepted. And we will play our part as the NCOP to see to it that those matters are being addressed.

We are also saying that we will not accept a situation where the sick and the elderly are made to stand in long queues while people are enjoying three-hour lunches, lacking the spirit of Batho Pele, instead of attending to those people. [Applause.]

We are further saying that we will not accept a situation where the policy of this government is very clear and learners coming from poverty-stricken families are not allowed to go to school, because we are saying that secondary and primary school should be compulsory and we also encourage our department to immediately identify the schools which are going to benefit from the no-school-fees education system. [Applause.]

As I’ve said, in the interest of time, I will not go through my whole speech. The people have spoken. We have heard what they’ve said. We will take it up with the relevant departments and will come back to give feedback. Thank you. [Applause.]

The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: Order! Order! Order! The Chief Whip has set a good example of cutting two minutes of his speaking time. Can I request the following speakers to do the same? And when you hear this clock ring behind you, please just say ``thank you’’, and go and sit down.

Mr F MAHLALELA (Mpumalanga): The hon Chairperson and hon Deputy Chairperson of the NCOP, His Excellency the hon President, the Premiers, MECs, mayors, councillors, hon members, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, I have been requested by the Premier to represent him in this forum, the reason being that he is attending the municipal imbizo which is currently taking place in the province, led by the Deputy President. This is an indication and undertaking from government that we are really serious about taking Parliament and government to the people.

Let me start by quoting the writings of Jurgen Habermas when he says: The nation of citizens does not derive its identity from some common ethnic and cultural practices, but rather from the praxis of citizens who actively exercise their civil rights.

It is therefore in this context that we are engaging in the discussion and challenges that confront all of us who are gathered here, regardless of our political affiliations and beliefs.

The question that we must ask ourselves is: How do we collectively instil a culture of democratic participation, not only by holding the political office bearers and public representatives accountable, but also ensure that all spheres of government, with particular emphasis on local government, which is the coalface of our people, empower our people to act as their own liberators?

During the course of this year, we have as government embarked on a very extensive programme roll-out to capacitate the community development workers who constitute a core of frontline cadres engaged in a struggle to mobilise the masses of our people at local government level to realise the vision of a better life for all.

We have managed, over the past years, actively to mobilise our people actively to participate in community structures aimed at contributing towards the improvement of the quality of their lives. These structures include ward committees, SGBs, community policing forums, independent development plan forums, transport and road safety forums and other relevant mechanisms for intensive democratic participation at all levels.

The municipal imbizos present us with an opportunity to review and ascertain for ourselves the level at which we are in relation to the functioning to the new system that we have introduced after the 2000 local government elections of ward committees.

It provides us with an opportunity to properly assess the functions and challenges that they confront as they implement and engage in this agenda of social transformation.

Through the process of these municipal imbizos, as the President has indicated, one of the experiences in Gert Sibande which managed to expose a large number of weaknesses, which the President referred to in his speech, includes, amongst other, the weakness in the selection processes of the NCDWs. One report that we received during that imbizo was that the ward committees are being rejected by communities and ward councillors themselves, because of the weaknesses in the manner in which they were selected. This is a weakness that we have identified as a province and we are in the process of addressing it.

I am sure that the provision that we have agreed upon to assess the functioning of these ward committees and CDWs is a better step in the right direction and we need to come up with systems that will ensure that we do the same with other structures that we have created so that we are in a position to determine whether these structures improve delivery of service as they are intended to.

One of the challenges that we are confronting as a province and as a country, which was exposed during the municipal imbizo as well, is the challenge of the capacity of our administration to interpret and fully implement the agenda of our developmental state. We have a huge challenge in relation to scarce skills such as civil engineering and others. This results in the over-reliance on consultants. It is not just a problem in the municipalities, Mr President. It is also a challenge in the provincial government. I am in the roads department. We rely on consultants in order to perform some of the functions. That’s one of the critical areas. As a province, as part of trying to deal with the capacity challenge, we have undergone a very extensive skills audit of our senior managers and middle managers, and that skills audit has revealed a large number of weaknesses which, as a province, we are beginning to correct so that we are in a position to build an administrative system that has the capacity to implement and carry out the objectives of Batho Pele.

The other critical challenge that we have witnessed over the past is the failure of integrated planning by all spheres of government. That has resulted in experiences in our province where national government took a correct political decision that Eskom must double its electricity production.

We all know that Mpumalanga is an energy-producing province. That’s where all this energy is being produced, and therefore, that instruction by national government, which is a good thing, to double electricity production had other consequences to us as a provincial government. We have since made a proposal to national government to assist because the increase in the haulage of coal has tripled because of that particular call. That has resulted in our roads being overcongested, and our roads collapsing left and right, as the hon Watson was saying, although he was saying it in the wrong context.

It is a good thing because jobs have been created as a result of that action. Small business is now benefiting as a result of that.

But then, the province does not have the capacity to meet the challenges in terms of the budget that we have, to deal with the problem of road infrastructure that is continuously collapsing as a result of the large number of trucks that are currently on our roads, which we cannot sustain. And, therefore, as I have indicated, we have made a business case to national government so that, because it is a national problem, national government must then come to the party so that we work together to make sure we deal with the challenges of road infrastructure that confront the portion of our province which is Gert Sibande and the portion of Witbank region.

So, it is in this context that we are saying that, as a province, we have taken various decisive progressive steps. One of them is that we have boldly said that we want to bring dignity to the people, and by making sure that we restore that dignity by eradicating the bucket system by the end of this year in the whole of the province.[Applause.] It is in this context that we want to say that we are a province that works and, together with the masses of our people, we are sure that we are going to create a better life, and we will achieve the goal that we have set ourselves come 2014. I thank you. [Applause.]

The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: Thank you very much; you have set a very good example, Mr Mahlalela.

Mr P UYS (Western Cape): Hon Chairperson, Deputy Chairperson, hon President, hon members of the NCOP, on behalf of the Western Cape, I want to thank you for the opportunity to address this House. In keeping with the national mood of optimism about the state of the economy, I want to speak about the Western Cape government’s approach to the challenge facing our nation in achieving accelerated and shared growth.

Our province is committed to rolling back poverty and unemployment by realising shared growth. Shared growth development strategies recognise that higher levels of growth are necessary; but, by itself, shared growth is not enough to reduce poverty and inequality. The key to policy success lies in understanding the interaction between wealth generation and distribution, and impact on poverty over time.

Achieving a better quality of growth is precisely what leads us to finding effective ways of building a staircase from the second to the first economy, as also reflected in the medium-term strategic framework and the emerging national debate on accelerating and sharing growth.

Despite modest and sustained economic growth, unemployment remains a huge challenge in the Western Cape. For example, the evidence tells us that, despite the additional 194 000 new posts created between 2000 and 2003 in the Western Cape, unemployment expanded at an even faster rate over the period. It manifested itself and jumped from 22,6% in 2000 to 26,1% in

1. The majority of the unemployed are below 35 years of age and almost 50% of the labour force younger than 24 years of age are unemployed.

The medium-term projection for the Western Cape economy reflected a slight drop in provincial growth levels, that is from 4,3% in the current year to 4% in 2006 and 3,9% in 2007. In other words, we recognise that it will require an enormous effort to shift this reality. The challenge is to move the trendline upwards with 3% to 4% to get to growth levels of 6% to 8% between 2010 and 2015 in order to realise the true potential of our province.

At this point you may ask, “What are we going to do to spur the growth and realise our full potential in a manner that also leads to outcomes that are more equitable?” The first task is to take findings of our extensive research into economic, social and environmental trends and confront the unique challenges in our province. On the economic front, we have effectively become a predominantly tertiary economy in which manufacturing and also agriculture have a vital role to play, if they can – and this is very important – adapt to the more competitive global environment.

The second task is to identify and deal with critical trade-offs that we need to make in the short term, medium term and long term. For example, the majority of those who are unemployed do not complete secondary school. Therefore we must ensure that more learners complete their education. Moreover, because most future jobs will be in the service sector, we need to adopt and equip our learners with the appropriate skills needed, including a stronger focus on mathematics and science to increase their employability.

The third task involves identifying lead interventions to complement national strategies that can increase our investment at the most strategic points in order to address the key infrastructure deficiencies, but in a manner that also encourages more private investment.

The Soccer World Cup 2010 affords us in the Western Cape, and I believe in South Africa, the opportunity to drive a set of interventions to transform the heart of the Cape Flats at the three major infrastructure projects. First is our Klipfontein corridor project, Athlone stadium upgrades and, very importantly, our N2 Gateway human settlement project that will create new houses, that is 100 000 houses by 2007.

Each of these major interventions, some already under construction, offers expansive opportunity for private- sector participation. For example, the envisioned Klipfontein corridor will undoubtedly unlock a basket of opportunities for retail development, middle-and-lower income housing, and a general improvement in the quality of the larger public transport system.

Mr President, we have the appetite to govern in the Western Cape. Of course, it requires that our social partners in business, communities, labour and also civil society buy into this social contract. It also means that we will have to shape the intergovernmental structures in a manner that will achieve the necessary alignment from national to provincial and local spheres of government.

Therefore I am delighted to report to you that our Premier’s intergovernmental forum, which was held last week, unanimously agreed – including all mayors in the province - that it will do what is required to get the municipalities really to share in the path of growth in the Western Cape. Furthermore, we are working towards a provincial growth and development summit next year to also achieve the same level of buy-in and commitment from our social partners regarding the national drive towards accelerated growth.

We have specific strategies dealing with microeconomic development interventions, which in turn inform our strategic infrastructure plan that lays the basis for infrastructure-driven growth in partnership with state- owned enterprise in the province. These two pillars, in turn, inform our human capital development strategy which sets specific targets for skills development in order to address, at this juncture in the labour market, what the economy needs and what our educational institutions can provide. At the same time, we also focus on building the self-reliance and resilience of our people through social capital strategy that seeks to make social cohesion a lived and, also very importantly, celebrated reality in the province.

All of these strategies are located in the provincial special development framework, which ensures the alignment with the national special development perspectives. We will continue to pursue the path of a better life for all our people, no matter what the obstacles are. I thank you for the honour to address you. [Applause.]

Mr J MAFEREKA (Free State): Thank you, Chairperson, hon President, hon Chairperson and Deputy Chairperson of the NCOP, hon Premiers who are all here, hon members of the NCOP, Mayors and councillors, traditional leaders, ladies and gentlemen. The dawn of the democratic dispensation has bestowed on us an obligation to provide people- centred governments. The democratic principles have always been our battle cry in the struggle to empower our people and fight the scourge of poverty.

It was no surprise that this year was declared a year of the Freedom Charter, which is the document whose production demonstrates a people- centred approach in soliciting the people’s demands. It is a document whose embodiment enshrines democracy and which has become the foundation of our Constitution.

Driven by the motivation derived from the shining example demonstrated in the early fifties, when the demands of the people were compiled, the Free State provincial legislature has decided to take Parliament to the people in this financial year. The legislature conducted a people’s budget during the votes by departments by soliciting the views of the people on the budget presented. This was conducted during the campaign of taking Parliament to the people.

Legislature sittings were held in all districts of the provinces as an attempt to reach out to all the people and take the legislation to the masses. The exercise assists a lot in making members of the legislature understand what people’s views are in relation to the different votes, and what they can do to ensure that budget embodies the interests of the people.

The provincial government also has a similar programme of Exco Meets the People, whereby members of the executive council are able to interact with the people by sharing views on service delivery. Such campaigns involve provincial and local government. The underlying objective with Exco Meets the People Campaign is to ensure a broad and robust mobilisation of all stakeholders such as labour, business, civil society, the youth and our communities broadly, to ensure the achievement of the provincial growth and development objectives, which are stimulating the economic development, developing and enhancing the infrastructure for economic growth and social development, poverty alleviation through human and social development, ensuring a safe and secure environment for all the people of the province, promoting effective and efficient governance and administration.

We have received enthusiastic support and critical feedback, which proves the correctness of the people- centred government. As we involve our people in all the programmes that we undertake, we need to take on board the programmes that evolve from the National Assembly and NCOP, which are directed to our provinces in order to ensure that they are compatible with what we, in the provinces, are doing.

We hope and trust that we shall consolidate our resolve of working with our people in all the programmes and campaigns that we undertake. These programmes should ensure that they bring impact in the betterment of the lives of our people, and that our people own up to all programmes that are geared towards improving their lives.

In conclusion, Chairperson, I must also reveal this, though the President never gave me the permission to do so. I have to reveal it to the masses of Limpopo that the President was with us yesterday on our interdepartmental infrastructure summit. He declared that he was forced to support the Cheetahs, but he did not want to go in full, but yesterday he confessed that he is a 100% supporter of the Cheetahs. So, whoever wanted to go anywhere, please, don’t tamper with that. We now own the President as far as the Cheetahs are concerned.

The second point is that, President – through you, Chairperson, I am worried about what will happen tomorrow. You know what happened between Chiefs and Celtics, where the pavilion was turned down. Tomorrow at eight o’clock it is Celtics against Pirates. I am therefore appealing, hon President, if you can tell Ntate Lekota that he must put the soldiers on standby, or they must go there . . .

. . . ka nama, hobane ho tla etsahala tse thata hosane mantsiboya. Phunya- Selesele e teng ka Gauteng ka mona. [ . . . personally, because tomorrow afternoon, things are going to happen there. Phunya-Selesele is in Gauteng now.]

Lastly, Free State is on the move, as we gear up for 2010. Members will remember that we have our Macufe as an annual event that we are going to entertain people in 2010. Before Gauteng we got our own Shosholoza from Gauteng to Free State. We are creating number two Shosholoza from North West, with Premier, Mme Molewa, this side.

It is Shosholoza number two, so please, Gautrain, don’t name it Shosholoza, it is our name, our brand. We are also in a process of creating another one, which is called Mangaung train, from Thaba Nchu. That is also to make accessible transport for the people to go back to work.

We are honoured, again, to be given a licence to hold the SA Games in 2007. That is in preparation for 2010. We are also honoured to have entertained ourselves between KwaZulu-Natal, Mpumalanga and ourselves in preparing the intergovernmental games that Kwanaloga from KwaZulu-Natal has been there. We are building it in preparation for the betterment of sports, in particular, soccer for 2010. We will be playing this in KwaZulu-Natal on 4 and 5 December.

This is how Free State is on the move. Therefore the President yesterday confirmed that he was on the way from Cape Town to here. He had an instruction to the pilot to land at Bloemfontein Airport. He went into town, and spent R1 000. Imagine 27 minutes, I think they can all learn and spend R1 000. What will they call you in the Free State? I thank you, Chairperson. [Applause.]

Ms N MOKONYANE (Gauteng): Thank you, Chairperson, His Excellency, our president, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, I just indicated to Mr Mafereka that he need not panic, in a few years time it would not be that cumbersome for him to reach Limpopo, because he would land at Johannesburg International Airport, board the Gautrain up to Pretoria and then come into Limpopo. Watch this space. [Applause.]

In the thrust of our day-to-day work to accelerate service delivery and strengthen our democracy, it is quite easy to forget where we come from and the ideals that we have fought for and those that we still continue to fight for. Our struggle against apartheid was necessitated not just by our hatred of the apartheid system, and the suffering and the injustice it inflicted on the people of our country; it was also inspired by our vision of a democratic alternative as opposed to a system based on an institutionalised racialism and exploitation.

Our struggle was inspired in particular by our vision of a nonracial and democratic South Africa in which the people shall govern. It is therefore apt that we our discussing the issue of public participation and deepening democracy this year, when we are celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Freedom Charter. A key aspect of our vision of democracy was obviously the right to vote. The idea that every citizen, regardless of their race, colour or creed, was entitled to stand for elections and to vote in them. But our vision of democracy also went beyond simply voting every five years.

We were also inspired by the idea of a participatory democracy as well as a system in which the people of our country would on an on-going basis participate in and have a say in every aspect of the lives in workplaces, communities, streets and schools. We were inspired by stories of the 1950s, when the M-plan was devised to build similar structures. In the 1980s, activists both inside and outside the Republic of South Africa debated and spoke about the concept of people’s power and the importance of building organs of people’s power such as street committees, student representative councils, shop steward councils, village committees, structures of our youth and women.

These were alternatives to the illegitimate and undemocratic apartheid structures imposed on our people such as the black local authorities, tri- cameral parliament, imposed traditional leaders and even the people’s representative councils, which were set up in schools in an attempt to weaken the democratic student movement. The building of these organs of democratic participation were seen as an imperative from the point of view of putting in place an effective organisational network, which would mobilise people at every level to defeat apartheid in all its manifestations. But the significance of these organs of people’s power went beyond that.

They were also seen as crucial in laying the foundation for the future participatory democracy that we were fighting for and that we are operating under. This emphasis on democratic participation that was born in the struggle against injustices is strongly reflected in our new democratic Constitution and the entrenchment of public participation in Parliament and the legislatures. Today we can say that we have succeeded in making democratic participation a permanent feature of good governance. We have made the deepening of democracy and nation building and realising the constitutional rights of our people one of the five pillars of our five- year strategic programme for the term of office from 2004 to 2009.

An important programme in this regard is the Gauteng Izimbizo, branded as “Let’s talk”. This programme has actually been taking us to countless communities since we first introduced it as the roving executive council in

1. This year alone, in 2005, the Premier, together with members of the executive council, working in close collaboration with our local authorities held izimbizo and interacted directly with residents in over 50 communities. We have also consulted with other constituencies such as women, youth, people with disabilities on an on-going basis in the development of policies as well as to ensure that our programmes indeed address the needs of these constituencies.

We have held two provincial women’s dialogues, branded as “Iingxoxo zamakhosikazi” or “local women’s dialogues”, initiated by our local authorities. Within the public sector we have held a Public Service summit to reach agreements with service trade unions on a common programme of action in boosting service delivery and improving the lives of our people. Similarly, we have organised sectoral summits in sectors such as health and housing. As part of our Batho Pele revitalisation campaign, we are strengthening processes in consultation with stakeholders and the actual users of our services.

Our programme to deepen public participation also involves the strengthening of school governing bodies and our CPFs. These are about ensuring effective schooling and policing, but they are also about creating forums for democratic participation in improving service delivery. The ward committee system is perhaps one of our most effective vehicles for community participation in Gauteng. Whilst they were designed to ensure popular participation in municipal affairs, they also serve to enable people’s participation in a range of issues. For example, we are currently using the ward committee system for consultation in the African Peer Review Mechanism Process. Of the 446 ward committees in Gauteng, 359, which constitutes 80%, are functional and operational. [Applause.]

Whilst this shows important progress in deepening democracy and public participation, there is still clearly room for improvement and a need for a systematic approach in ironing out some of the challenges that are faced by selfless South Africans serving in our ward committees and in building their capacity so that they can indeed become organs of popular participation. A citizen satisfaction survey conducted in Gauteng recently also showed that 57% of the residents of Gauteng want to be involved in any decision-making processes and to a certain extent they are aware of government programmes. What is therefore needed is to ensure they are consistently being given an opportunity to input and improve on those commitments that we have made together with them.

We would be doing an injustice to our struggle if we were to give the impression that we have done enough in deepening democracy and enabling popular participation. We are also faced with operations such Operation “Phuma Singene”, a campaign that is being championed against by those who have been serving in local government. And indeed we will heed the call by the President that we need to guard against people who will be coming there for selfish interests and to line their pockets and that they do not actually intend to represent those who have placed their hopes in this popular government.

This relates not just to democratic participation in governance but also the need to strengthen participation in building our own communities and in building the people’s contract. We need to continue to pay attention to both the strengthening of organisations and democratic participation so that our slogan of “Amandla ngawethu” truly becomes more than just a slogan. Inkomo. [Thank you.] [Applause.]

The PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC: Chairperson, I have just been saying to the Deputy Chairperson of the NCOP that I don’t know what to say. She did not help me and I was looking for some assistance from her but she didn’t help me.

Chairperson, let me say that I am very, very pleased, indeed, with the inputs that have been made by the various speakers because it seems quite clear that all of us are agreed about the fundamental things that need to be done. We are agreed about the need to ensure that we integrate these various spheres of government so that they plan, work and implement in an integrated fashion. I think we are agreed upon that. It’s important and, therefore, I think we will need to have a look – with the assistance of the NCOP – at how we have been working in this regard. For instance, the example given by MEC Mahlalela about the way the road system is being destroyed in Mpumalanga because of the use of heavy-duty trucks, which arises out of the growth of the economy, illustrates the point regarding integration and the need to work together. But I think we are agreed upon that.

We are agreed about the challenge to ensure that we have the necessary capacity in all spheres of government in order to implement the programmes we set for ourselves. The Premier of North West said something which may very well be correct by asking: “Why don’t you focus on delivering houses rather than focusing on the transfer of powers to other spheres of government?” Let’s build the houses.

In the meantime, I am sure we could be paying attention to building capacity at the local government level if we are going to hand over the housing function entirely to local government. But I think we are agreed about that capacity matter. Therefore, regarding the work that is being done now by Project Consolidate in particular, we shall have to make sure that we respond to that in a practical way because one of the things it’s showing up is identifying those skills shortages. I think we will therefore have to respond to that in a practical way so that, indeed, we are able to advance in terms of this objective of a better life for all.

The Premier of Limpopo, I am sure, knows what the procedures would be with regard to the declaration of certain areas of Limpopo as disaster areas. I think, Premier, we should move on that. I have seen some of this in the news, including hospitals running out of water. And I am quite certain that the national government would want to respond to that with some speed. [Applause.]

I wonder if there is a way in which we could follow up on what the Premier of the Eastern Cape said – that they have drawn on the best practices from other provinces. I don’t know what system we could have to share experience in that manner because indeed there is no reason why one of the provinces should fail when another one is succeeding with precisely the same thing. [Applause.] Perhaps that’s a matter that we could reflect on and see how we could do it. For instance, the Premier of KwaZulu-Natal spoke about what sounded to me like significant growth of the co-operatives movement in the province. I don’t know where else this is happening with that kind of speed.

Again, it may very well be that all of us can learn something from what’s happening in KwaZulu-Natal so that, because all of us want to engage as many of our people in this form of economic organisation as possible, we are indeed able to move people forward in terms of meeting these challenges of poverty. But I am saying we would need to, perhaps, think about how we could do this – have access to this basket of best practices. Premier Ndebele, I am sure that would include the fact that all of us would be very interested to see how the province handles the matter of the application of the African Peer Review Mechanism process to the province and municipalities. I think it would be of interest to all of us to see how that goes because indeed it may give lessons to all of us as to what next we should do.

Let me finish by saying that, obviously, when we are discussing this matter of integration within spheres of government, we can’t forget the role that must be played by our traditional leaders. They are a very important part of this process of co-operative governance and, indeed, I should say that I am very glad that they are here, including the chair of the provincial house. Therefore the system of traditional leadership, too, has to be part of this process of co-operative governance, obviously.

Chairperson, I listened very carefully to what you said, including that the programme of action of the NCOP now says that NCOP should spend 70% of its time on oversight and 30% on legislative work. I am very very pleased with that, Chairperson, because indeed the NCOP does need to get its hands dirty. [Applause.] This oversight means attention to these things which will actually change the lives of our people for the better, not just the ideas and policies which are necessary and all that, but the actual doing. [Applause.] I am very glad, Chairperson, that the NCOP has taken these decisions.

I certainly would be very pleased if, again, we could find a way of breaking down the compartments. I don’t know who the NCOP speaks to in terms of the executive. Whom do you speak to? [Laughter.] Because, regarding the things that you are doing in the NCOP, Chairperson, including what you said, for instance that you are looking for ways of seeing how you would improve participation of Salga in the work of the Council and other matters that have to do with local government, it may very well be that you have these ideas coming out of the processes in which the NCOP is engaged, to which the executive needs access in order to improve its own performance. That’s why I am asking the question: To whom in the executive is the NCOP speaking? HON MEMBERS: To the Leader of Government Business.

The PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC: No, but the discussion with the Leader of Government Business is about scheduling meetings. [Laughter.] Those are things such as which Minister is coming when to answer questions and that kind of thing. I think it’s something that we need to look at. Because, as I say, Chairperson, it seemed to me that we need to ask this question, regarding the way you have positioned yourself in the manner that you explained earlier: Wouldn’t it help to give us this greater possibility to produce results quicker, to move the process of responding to the demands of the people quicker?

Thank you very much, Chairperson. We, clearly, will need to follow up on a number of these things that have been raised. A few days ago I was in Cape Town and participated in a very moving ceremony to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the foundation of the Muslim Judicial Council and also broke the fast because the moon had not yet been sighted then. I did say, in the event that I didn’t meet Muslim leadership that was there before the moon was sighted, I had already said congratulations to them. But let me repeat: Eid Mubarak to all the Muslims of our country! [Applause.] Thank you very much, Chairperson.

The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: Thank you, Mr President. The question the President has asked has put me in a very precarious position because I was chairing and therefore couldn’t answer. But I thought the members of the NCOP would say, “In terms of the Constitution, the head of the executive is the President of the country.” Therefore our report should actually land in the hands of the President, clearly defining what the executive should do. [Applause.]

But, Mr President, that’s a matter that we will consider very carefully because we haven’t been sending you these reports. We have been communicating directly to the Ministers who are in charge of those portfolios. But I think the right thing would be to communicate to the head of the executive so that things are driven from that point.

Debate concluded.

The Council adjourned at 13:15. ____

            ANNOUNCEMENTS, TABLINGS AND COMMITTEE REPORTS



                      THURSDAY, 27 OCTOBER 2005

ANNOUNCEMENTS

National Assembly and National Council of Provinces

The Speaker and the Chairperson

1. Bill passed by Houses – to be submitted to President for assent

 (1)    Bill passed by National Council of Provinces on 26 October 2005:


        i) Road Accident Fund Amendment Bill [B 64B – 2003] (National
           Assembly – sec 75)

National Council of Provinces

The Chairperson

1. Referrals to Committees of papers tabled

1.     The following papers are referred to  the  Select  Committee  on
     Economic and Foreign Affairs for consideration and report:

      a) Report and Financial Statements of Vote 32 – Department of
         Trade and Industry for 2004-2005, including the Report of the
         Auditor-General on the Financial Statements of Vote 32 for 2004-
         2005.


      b) Report and Financial Statements of Trade and Investment South
         Africa for 2004-2005, including the Report of the Independent
         Auditors on the Financial Statements for 2004-2005.


      c) Report and Financial Statements of Support Program for
         Industrial Innovation (SPII) for 2004-2005, including the
         Report of the Independent Auditors on the Financial Statements
         for 2004-2005.


      d) Report and Financial Statements of the Technology and Human
         Resources for Industry Programme (THRIP) for 2004-2005,
         including the Report of the Auditor-General on the Financial
         Statements for 2004-2005.


      e) Report and Financial Statements of the Estate Agency Affairs
         Board for 2004-2005, including the Report of the Independent
         Auditors on the Financial Statements for 2004-2005.


      f) Report of the National Industrial Participation Programme 2005.


2.     The following papers are referred to the Select Committee on
     Economic and Foreign Affairs for consideration and report:

    (a)      Additional Protocol to the Trade, Development and
         Cooperation Agreement (TDCA) between the Republic of South
         Africa and the European Community (EC) and its member states,
         tabled in terms of section 231(2) of the Constitution, 1996.


    (b)      Explanatory Memorandum to the Additional Protocol to the
         Trade, Development and Cooperation Agreement (TDCA) between the
         Republic of South Africa and the European Community (EC) and
         its member states.


3.      The following papers are referred to the  Select  Committee  on
    Economic and Foreign Affairs verwys:

    (a)      Government Notice No R.431 published in Government Gazette
         No 27560 dated 13 May 2005: Standards Matters in terms of the
         Standards Act, 1993 (Act No 29 of 1993).


    (b)      Government Notice No R.518 published in Government Gazette
         No 27615 dated 3 June 2005: Import Control in terms of the
         International Trade Administration Act, 2002 (Act No 71 of
         2002).


    (c)      Government Notice No R.567 published in Government Gazette
         No 27685 dated 24 June 2005: Proposed introduction of a
         compulsory specification for replacement elastomeric cups and
         seals for hydraulic brake actuating cylinders for use in motor
         vehicles using non-petroleum base hydraulic brake fluid, in
         terms of the Standards Act, 1993 (Act No 29 of 1993).


    (d)      Government Notice No 641 published in Government Gazette
         No 27750 dated 1 July 2005: Strategic Industrial Project:
         Lafarge Gypsum (Pty) Ltd, in terms of the Income Tax Act, 1962
         (Act No 58 of 1962).


    (e)      Government Notice No 642 published in Government Gazette
         No 27750 dated 1 July 2005: Strategic Industrial Project:
         Nampak Metal Packaging Limited – Bevcan, in terms of the Income
         Tax Act, 1962 (Act No 58 of 1962).


    (f)      Government Notice No 643 published in Government Gazette
         No 27750 dated 1 July 2005: Strategic Industrial Project: Pulp
         United (Pty) Ltd, in terms of the Income Tax Act, 1962 (Act No
         58 of 1962).


    (g)      Government Notice No 644 published in Government Gazette
         No 27750 dated 1 July 2005: Strategic Industrial Project:
         Nampak Products Limited – Corrugated Flexographic Printing
         Project, in terms of the Income Tax Act, 1962 (Act No 58 of
         1962).


    (h)      Government Notice No 645 published in Government Gazette
         No 27750 dated 1 July 2005: Strategic Industrial Project: Sud-
         Chemie SA (Pty) Ltd, in terms of the Income Tax Act, 1962 (Act
         No 58 of 1962).


    (i)      Government Notice No 646 published in Government Gazette
         No 27750 dated 1 July 2005: Strategic Industrial Project:
         Trident Steel (Pty) Ltd, in terms of the Income Tax Act, 1962
         (Act No 58 of 1962).


    (j)      Government Notice No 647 published in Government Gazette
         No 27750 dated 1 July 2005: Strategic Industrial Project: UCAR
         South Africa (Pty) Ltd, in terms of the Income Tax Act, 1962
         (Act No 58 of 1962).


    (k)      Government Notice No 648 published in Government Gazette
         No 27750 dated 1 July 2005: Strategic Industrial Project: Duys
         Engineering (Pty) Ltd, in terms of the Income Tax Act, 1962
         (Act No 58 of 1962).


    (l)      Government Notice No 649 published in Government Gazette
         No 27750 dated 1 July 2005: Strategic Industrial Project: Duys
         Engineering (Pty) Ltd, in terms of the Income Tax Act, 1962
         (Act No 58 of 1962).


    (m)      Government Notice No 650 published in Government Gazette
         No 27750 dated 1 July 2005: Strategic Industrial Project: MOLT
         Fruit Processing (Pty) Ltd, in terms of the Income Tax Act,
         1962 (Act No 58 of 1962).


    (n)      Government Notice No 651 published in Government Gazette
         No 27750 dated 1 July 2005: Strategic Industrial Project:
         Silicon Technology (Pty) Ltd, in terms of the Income Tax Act,
         1962 (Act No 58 of 1962).


    (o)      Government Notice No 652 published in Government Gazette
         No 27750 dated 1 July 2005: Strategic Industrial Project: Pulp
         United (Pty) Ltd, in terms of the Income Tax Act, 1962 (Act No
         58 of 1962).


    (p)      Government Notice No 602 published in Government Gazette
         No 27713 dated 1 July 2005: Companies and Intellectual Property
         Registration Office – Amendment of Regulations, in terms of the
         Designs Act, 1993 (Act No 195 of 1993).


    (q)      Government Notice No 603 published in Government Gazette
         No 27713 dated 1 July 2005: Companies and Intellectual Property
         Registration Office – Amendment of Regulations, in terms of the
         Trade Marks Act, 1993 (Act No 194 of 1993).


    (r)      Government Notice No 604 published in Government Gazette
         No 27713 dated 1 July 2005: Companies and Intellectual Property
         Registration Office – Amendment of Regulations, in terms of the
         Patents Act, 1978 (Act No 57 of 1978).
    (s)      Government Notice No 605 published in Government Gazette
         No 27713 dated 1 July 2005: Companies and Intellectual Property
         Registration Office – Amendment to Companies Administrative
         Regulations, in terms of the Companies Act, 1973 (Act No 61 of
         1973).


    (t)      Government Notice No 606 published in Government Gazette
         No 27713 dated 1 July 2005: Companies and Intellectual Property
         Registration Office – Amendment of Regulations, in terms of the
         Registration of Copyright in Cinematograph Films Act, 1977 (Act
         No 62 of 1977).


    (u)      Government Notice No 607 published in Government Gazette
         No 27713 dated 1 July 2005: Companies and Intellectual Property
         Registration Office – Amendment to Close Corporations
         Administrative Regulations - 1984, in terms of the Electronic
         and Communications and Transactions Act, 2002 (Act No 25 of
         2002).


    (v)      Government Notice No 655 published in Government Gazette
         No 27735 dated 8 July 2005: Standards Matters in terms of the
         Standards Act, 1993 (Act No 29 of 1993).


    (w)      Government Notice No 1099 published in Government Gazette
         No 27735 dated 8 July 2005: Notices of initiation of
         investigation into the alleged dumping of detonated fuses and
         delay detonators (commonly known as shock tubes), originating
         in or imported from the Peoples Republic of China, in terms of
         the International Trade Administration Commission of South
         Africa.


    (x)      Government Notice No 1100 published in Government Gazette
         No 27735 dated 8 July 2005: Customs and Excise Tariff
         applications: List 9/2005 in terms of the International Trade
         Administration Commission of South Africa.


    (y)      Government Notice No R.622 published in Government Gazette
         No 27762 dated 8 July 2005: Amended Safeguard Regulations in
         terms of the International Trade Administration Act, 2002 (Act
         No 71 of 2002).


    (z)      Government Notice No 766 published in Government Gazette
         No 27846 dated 5 August 2005: Standards Matters in terms of the
         Standards Act, 1993 (Act No 29 of 1993).


    (aa)     Government Notice No R.779 published in Government Gazette
         No 27847 dated 5 August 2005: Amendment in terms of the
         International Trade Administration Commission of South Africa.


    (bb)     Trade and Economic Agreement between the Republic of South
         Africa and the Republic of Turkey, tabled in terms of section
         231(2) of the Constitution, 1996.
    (cc)     Explanatory Memorandum to the Trade and Economic Agreement
         between the Republic of South Africa and the Republic of
         Turkey.


4.      The following paper is referred to the Select Committee on
    Social Services for consideration and report:

    (a)      Report and Financial Statements of the Film and
         Publication Board for 2003-2004, including the Report of the
         Auditor-General on the Financial Statements for 2003-2004 [RP
         158-2004].


5.      The following paper is referred to the Select Committee on
    Security and Constitutional Affairs for consideration and report:

    (a)      Report and Financial Statements of the Commission for
         Gender Equality (CGE) for 2004-2005, including the Report of
         the Auditor-General on the Financial Statements for 2004-2005
         [RP 120-2005].


                       FRIDAY, 28 OCTOBER 2005

ANNOUNCEMENTS

National Assembly and National Council of Provinces

The Speaker and the Chairperson

1. Classification of Bills by Joint Tagging Mechanism (JTM)

 (1)    The JTM on 25 October 2005 in terms of Joint Rule 160(3),
     classified the following Bill as a section 75 Bill:


        i) Electricity Regulation Bill [B 29 – 2005 (Reintroduced)]
           (National Assembly – sec 75)

TABLINGS

National Assembly and National Council of Provinces

1. The Minister for Justice and Constitutional Development

(a)     Report and Financial Statements of the Legal Aid Board for 2004-
    2005, including the Report of the Auditor-General on the Financial
    Statements for 2004-2005 [RP 199-2005].


                       MONDAY, 31 OCTOBER 2005

ANNOUNCEMENTS

National Assembly and National Council of Provinces

The Speaker and the Chairperson

1. Classification of Bills by Joint Tagging Mechanism (JTM)

 (1)    The JTM on 31 October 2005 in terms of Joint Rule 160(3),
     classified the following Bill as a section 75 Bill:


     (i)     Diamonds Amendment Bill [B 27B – 2005 (Reintroduced)]
          (National Assembly – sec 75)

TABLINGS

National Assembly and National Council of Provinces

1. The Speaker and the Chairperson

(a)     Report of the Auditor-General on the Submission of Financial
    Statements by Municipalities for the financial year ended 30 June
    2005 [RP 221-2005].

1. The Minister of Finance

(a)    National Treasury Consolidated Financial Information for the
     year ended 31 March 2005, including:


    1.1      Report of the Auditor-General on the Consolidated
         Financial Information of National Departments, National Revenue
         Fund, State Debt and Tax and Loan Accounts of the National
         Treasury (“Department”) for the year ended 31 March 2005;
    1.2      Report of the Auditor-General on the Consolidated
         Financial Information of Constitutional Institutions, Schedule
         2, 3A and 3B Public Entities and Trading Accounts (Entities”)
         for the year ended 31 March 2005.

1. The Minister of Labour

(a)     Report and Financial Statements of the Unemployment Insurance
    Fund (UIF) for 2004-2005, including the Report of the Auditor-
    General on the Financial Statements for 2004-2005.

1. The Minister of Trade and Industry

(a)     Report and Financial Statements of the Micro Finance Regulatory
    Council (MFRC) for the year ended 31 December 2004.



                      TUESDAY, 1 NOVEMBER 2005

ANNOUNCEMENTS

National Assembly and National Council of Provinces

The Speaker and the Chairperson

1. Messages from National Assembly to National Council of Provinces in respect of Bills passed by Assembly and transmitted to Council

Bills passed by National Assembly on 1 November 2005 and transmitted
for concurrence:


(i)     Diamonds Amendment Bill [B 27B – 2005 (Reintroduced)] (National
      Assembly – sec 75)


      The Bill has been referred to the Select Committee on Economic and
      Foreign Affairs.


(ii)    Precious Metals Bill [B 30B – 2005] (National Assembly – sec
      75)


      The Bill has been referred to the Select Committee on Economic and
      Foreign Affairs.

COMMITTEE REPORTS

National Assembly and National Council of Provinces

1. Report of the Constitutional Review Committee, dated 28 October 2005:

In terms of section 45 of the Constitution Parliament has to establish a joint committee to review the Constitution at least annually.

In giving effect to this provision the Constitutional Review Committee placed advertisements in the media on 9 May 2005 inviting from the public submissions regarding changes to the Constitution. The submissions had to reach the Committee by 30 May 2005. In all, 17 submissions were received.

The Committee requested the Parliamentary Legal Services Office to consider each of the submissions in the light of current jurisprudence. Where necessary the Legal Services Office engaged the assistance of legal specialists such as Professor Julian Hoffman from the University of Cape Town as well as the Parliamentary Information Services Section.

Hereunder are brief summaries of the submissions of the public as well as the Committee’s views and its recommendations.

1. Property: Section 25 It was submitted that section 25 of the Constitution should be amended to allow for land redistribution to take place without subjecting the process to rigid legislative requirements; to reform the tax system for the introduction of a land tax system; to amend the circumstances for determining the amount of compensation paid for the expropriation of property; and to impose positive obligations on the legislature and executive to implement the amendments.

The Committee noted that the redistribution of land is on-going and that a positive right to property was not included in the Constitution for the specific purpose of allowing redress of past injustices as well as allowing for measures to ensure equitable access to property, including land. The Committee is further of the view that the regulation of a land tax is a matter to be dealt with in ordinary legislation and not the Constitution.

Recommendation The Committee accordingly does not support an amendment to section 25 of the Constitution.

1. Traditional Leaders: Sections 211 and 212 It was submitted that sections 211 and 212 of the Constitution should be amended to make provision for the effective functioning of institutions of traditional leadership and that traditional communities must be specifically recognized in sections 211 and 212. Also, that section 212 be amended to provide a role for traditional communities and leaders in legislative and executive decision making; that the section fails to recognise a role for traditional communities other than at local government level and that the wording of section 212(2) should be in the peremptory form.

The Committee is of the opinion that the recognition of specific traditional communities in the Constitution would require a drastic deviation from current policies and conflicts with democratic principles.

Recommendation The Committee is satisfied with the current construction of sections 211 and 212 and accordingly recommends that no amendment to these sections is needed.

1. Equality Clause: Section 9 It was proposed that an element of “prejudice” should be incorporated into the test for “discrimination” in section 9 of the Constitution. It is submitted that the wording of section 8(4) of the interim Constitution sets a better requirement for discrimination than the wording in section 9(5) of the final Constitution.

The Committee is of the opinion that the Constitutional Court has clearly pronounced itself on the “equality” clause and in this respect the Committee does not support the submission.

Recommendation The Committee recommends that no amendment to section 9 is warranted.

1. Interpretation Clause: Section 39 It was proposed that the Constitution should contain interpretation guidelines additional to section 39 of the Constitution because without such interpretation guidelines and methodologies “the understanding of justice seems to be within the particular bosom of the judges.”

The Committee does not agree that the interpretation of the Constitution should be subjected to rigid principles as proposed.

Recommendation The Committee recommends that no amendment to the Constitution in this regard is needed.

1. Limitation Clause: Section 36 It was submitted that because the rights in the Bill of Rights do not enjoy the same status, the Constitution should make provision for a hierarchy of rights.

The Committee notes that the Constitutional Court has in the case of S v Makwanyane and Another [1995 (3) SA 391 (CC)] recognized that certain rights do enjoy greater status than others. However, the Committee is of the view that it is not necessary to amend the Constitution to give effect to the proposal.

Recommendation The Committee recommends that no amendment to the Constitution is needed.

1. Marriage Separate submissions were received for the inclusion of a definition of “marriage” in the Constitution.

The Committee is of the opinion that a definition of “marriage” should not be included in the Constitution.

Recommendation The Committee does not recommend any amendment to the Constitution in this regard.

1. Innocent until proven guilty It was submitted that the slogan used by the Drive Alive Project, i.e. ”If you as a motorist hit, run over or injure a Pedestrian, you will be guilty of an offence and pay the penalty” is contrary to the Constitution because it reverses the presumption of “innocent until proven guilty”.

The Committee is of the opinion that the presumption of innocence is a pillar of our criminal justice system and that the submission was not requesting a constitutional amendment.

Recommendation The Committee recommends that no amendment to the Constitution in this regard is needed.

1. Prisoners’ right to vote It was submitted that prisoners should not be allowed to vote.

The Committee is not in favour of an amendment to the Bill of Rights and does not agree that prisoners should be disenfranchised.

Recommendation The Committee recommends that no amendment in this regard is needed.

1. Provision of Old Age Homes A submission was received that motivates for Old Aged Homes to be provided for aged people in order to protect such persons from abuse.

The Committee is of the view that the submission does not require a constitutional amendment but that it is a proposal that should be directed to the Department of Social Services.

Recommendation The Committee recommends that no amendment is warranted.

1. Right to Life and the Death Penalty: Section 11 It was submitted that the death penalty should be re-instated as a sentence for certain serious crimes, for example, murder and rape.

The Committee does not support the re-introduction of the death penalty.

Recommendation The Committee recommends that no amendment be considered in this regard.

1. Health Care Services: Section 27 It was proposed that a woman’s right to reproductive health care services should not be extended to abortions, except in cases of rape, where the pregnancy poses a serious health risk or where the foetus is extremely disfigured.

The Committee is of the view that the suggested amendment would impact negatively on the fundamental rights of women.

Recommendation The Committee does not support the submission and recommends that no amendment to section 27 is needed.

1. Care of Children’s rights: Section 28 It was proposed that section 28 of the Constitution should be amended as follows- • section 28(1)(b) - to entrench a right for every child to family care, parental care, or guardian care, or to appropriate alternative care when removed from the family environment; • section 28(1)(f) – to include the following words after the word “service”, namely, “or be subjected to any cultural, ethnic, social or religious practices or acts”; • section 28(1)(g) – to provide for the constant supervision of a child who is detained by an appointed and qualified person.

The Committee is of the view that section 28(2) of the Constitution entrenches the right that a child’s best interest is of paramount importance in every matter concerning the child. The Committee is further of the view that the proposed amendments would not result in additional protection for children.

Recommendation The Committee recommends that the existing provisions are adequate and that no amendment is needed.

1. The independence of the Judiciary - Section 165(2) It was proposed that the independence of the judiciary should be suspended so as to allow it to be monitored by a parliamentary organ. Also, that monitoring should be in place until the entire justice system is transformed and that “immoral court verdicts” should be addressed. Further, that a mechanism should be introduced that holds the judiciary accountable to the State and to the citizenry at large.

The Committee acknowledges that judicial independence is entrenched in the Constitution and that the independence of the judiciary is essential to the doctrine of separation of powers. However, the Committee notes that a mechanism that provides for complaints against judicial officers is currently being addressed in legislation.

Recommendation The Committee recommends that no amendment in this regard is needed.

1. Section 184(2)(d) A submission proposed that the South African Human Rights Commission should be empowered and obliged to educate people on human rights from primary school level and to every family in the country.

The Committee is aware that the functions of the Commission are dependent on its resources and that the proposal does not require an amendment to the Constitution.

Recommendation The Committee recommends that no amendment in this regard is warranted.

1. Chapter 9 of the Constitution It was submitted that section 192 of the Constitution should be amended to make provision for the inclusion of telecommunications and that the Broadcasting Authority should be included in section 181 of the Constitution as an institution supporting constitutional democracy.

The Committee acknowledges that there is uncertainty between what is understood to fall within the realms of broadcasting and telecommunications. The Committee notes that the Portfolio Committee on Communications is currently deliberating on the Convergence Bill that covers the merging of broadcasting and telecommunications. The Committee is of the view that the Department of Communications and the Portfolio Committee on Communications should be called upon to make further presentations on this topic to the Committee.

Recommendation The Committee recommends that the matter should be more fully considered.

1. Section 146(6) It was submitted that section 146(6) of the Constitution should be amended because it makes a distinction between national delegated legislation made in terms of section 101 and provincial delegated legislation made in terms of section 140. It was further submitted that provincial delegated legislation may not be referred to the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) in terms of section 146(6).

The Committee is of the view that section 146(6) does not prohibit provincial delegated legislation from being referred to the NCOP.

Recommendation The Committee recommends that no amendment in this regard is warranted.

1. Animal Rights and Section 24 It was proposed that the “protection” of animal rights should be included in the Constitution because current animal rights legislation is inadequate. Further, that provision should be made in the Constitution for an obligation to be imposed on government to take reasonable steps to ensure the protection of the environment and animals. The Committee acknowledges that the Bill of Rights only deals with human rights and does not support the inclusion of positive rights for animals. Also, because section 7(2) of the Constitution places a duty on the State to amongst others, fulfil the rights in the Bill of Rights, the Committee is of the opinion that section 24 does not have to be amended to specifically place an obligation on the State to protect animals and section 24(b) may be a conduit for the “protection” of animals legislation.

Recommendation The Committee recommends that no amendment is warranted in this regard but that the submission be referred to the Portfolio and Select Committees dealing with Environmental Affairs for comment as to whether the existing animal protection legislation is adequate.

1. Religion: Section 15 It was submitted that section 15 of the Constitution should be amended to specifically recognize the fundamental principles of the religion of Islam.

The Committee holds the view that an amendment to section 15 that recognizes a particular religion will be contrary to the principles of the constitutional order, especially in respect of freedom of religion.

Recommendation The Committee recommends that no amendment in this regard is warranted.

1. Labour Relations: Section 23 It was recommended that labour legislation should be reviewed to ensure it is consistent with section 23 of the Constitution.

The Committee notes that the submission does not require an amendment to the Constitution, but an enactment of ordinary legislation.

Recommendation The Committee recommends that no amendment to section 23 is warranted.

1. Co-operative Government: Section 40 (1) A submission was received that proposes that the reference to “provincial” government in section 40(1) of the Constitution should be removed and that provincial government should be merged with national government because national government constantly intervenes in the affairs of provinces.

The Committee notes that the provincial sphere of government forms an integral sphere in respect of the constitutional order and therefore its removal would require drastic amendments to the Constitution and other legislation.

Recommendation The Committee recommends that no amendment to section 40(1) is needed.

1. Parliament and Local Government It was submitted that local government should not be represented in the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) by organized local government. It is argued that section 163 should be deleted and that local government should be allowed to associate along the lines of labour legislation in terms of section 23 of the Constitution.

The Committee is of the opinion that section 67 of the Constitution adequately provides for local government to be represented in the NCOP. Further, the representation of local government in the NCOP is not dependant on an employment relationship and therefore section 23 cannot apply.

Recommendation The Committee does not support any amendment to the Constitution in this regard.

Submissions were received from: |Number |Submission received from | No of | | | |submissions | |1 |Peter Meaken |1 | |2 |Royal Bafokeng Nation |2 | |3 |Marriage Alliance of South Africa |2 | |4 |Doctors for Life International |1 | |5 |Hazel Shelton |1 | |6 |Mr Nick McConnell |1 | |7 |Mr Mick McConnell |1 | |8 |Mrs G McConnell |1 | |9 |Learners of the Hendrik Verwoerd High|1 | | |School | | |10 |Ms NM Tshoma |1 | |11 |Mr A F Nkoana |1 | |12 |Ms Khahliso Mochaba and Ms Justine |1 | | |White | | |13 |Janis Jordan |1 | |14 |Rashid Patel and Company (Attorneys) |1 | |15 |Mr J M Nhlapo |1 |

Report to be considered.

                     WEDNESDAY, 2 NOVEMBER 2005

ANNOUNCEMENTS

National Assembly and National Council of Provinces

The Speaker and the Chairperson

1. Messages from National Assembly to National Council of Provinces in respect of Bills passed by Assembly and transmitted to Council

Bills passed by National Assembly on 2 November 2005 and transmitted
for concurrence:


(i)     Nursing Bill [B 26B – 2005 (Reprint)] (National Assembly – sec
    75).


    The Bill has been referred to the Select Committee on Social
    Services.

1. Membership of Committees

(1)    The following changes  have  been  made  to  the  membership  of
     Standing   Committees viz:


     Public Accounts:
  Appointed: Bekker, Mr H J; Vezi, Mr T E  (Alt)



                      THURSDAY, 3 NOVEMBER 2005

ANNOUNCEMENTS

National Assembly and National Council of Provinces

The Speaker and the Chairperson

1. Introduction of Bill

 (1)    The Minister of Transport


     On request of the Minister the following Bill was introduced by the
     Select Committee on Public Services in the National Council of
     Provinces:


      i) National Land Transport Transition Amendment Bill [B 38 –
         2005] (National Council of Provinces – sec 76) [Bill and prior
         notice of its introduction published in Government Gazette No
         28186 of 31 October 2005.]


     Introduction and referral to the Select Committee on Public
     Services of the National Council of Provinces, as well as referral
     to the Joint Tagging Mechanism (JTM) for classification in terms
     of Joint Rule 160, on 4 November 2005.


     In terms of Joint Rule 154 written views on the classification of
     the Bill may be submitted to the Joint Tagging Mechanism (JTM)
     within three parliamentary working days.

TABLINGS

National Assembly and National Council of Provinces

1. The Minister for Agriculture and Land Affairs

(a)     Report and Financial Statements of the South African Veterinary
    Council for 2004-2005, including the Report of the Independent
    Auditors on the Financial Statements for 2004-2005.



                       FRIDAY, 4 NOVEMBER 2005

ANNOUNCEMENTS

National Assembly and National Council of Provinces

The Speaker and the Chairperson

1. Introduction of Bill

 (1)    The Minister of Minerals and Energy


        i) Diamonds Second Amendment Bill [B 39 – 2005] (National
           Assembly – sec 76) [Explanatory summary of Bill and prior
           notice of its introduction published in Government Gazette No
           27929 of 19 August 2005.]


     Introduction and referral to the Portfolio Committee on Minerals
     and Energy of the National Assembly, as well as referral to the
     Joint Tagging Mechanism (JTM) for classification in terms of Joint
     Rule 160, on 7 November 2005.


     In terms of Joint Rule 154 written views on the classification of
     the Bill may be submitted to the Joint Tagging Mechanism (JTM)
     within three parliamentary working days.

TABLINGS

National Assembly and National Council of Provinces

1. The Minister of Trade and Industry

(a)     Special Report from the South African Women Entrepreneurs – A
    burgeoning force in our economy for 2005.