NCOP restructures committees, introduces economic and finance clusters

Source: Western Cape Provincial Parliament.

This follows an announcement made at the NCOP's first meeting held on Wednesday, 26 June, 2024.

“These select committees are the engine room of the NCOP, as they are responsible for overseeing the performance of various government departments. Select committees are also crucial in ensuring consistent focus on provincial issues,” the committee said in a statement.

The decision to reduce the number of select committees to 10 includes the creation of several clusters: Governance, Economic, Finance, Social and Security, and will now mean that the Social Cluster will have two committees.

To this end, the Governance cluster comprises two committees, including the Select Committee on Public Infrastructure, overseeing the work of the Departments of Public Works and Infrastructure, Transport, Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation, and the Select Committee on Co-operative Governance and Public Administration.

The committees will oversee the departments of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Public Service and Administration, Human Settlements, and Water and Sanitation.

Meanwhile, the Finance Cluster has the Select Committee on Finance and the Select Committee on Appropriations to oversee the Treasury.

The Economic Cluster includes the Select Committee on Economic Development and Trade, overseeing the Departments of Economic Development, Trade, Industry and Competition, Small Business Development and Tourism, Employment and Labour, and Public Enterprises.

The Select Committee on Land and Mineral Resources oversees the departments of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development, Environment, Forestry and Fisheries, Mineral Resources and Energy, and Electricity.

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The biggest change to come out of the NCOP announcement is that the Social Cluster now has two committees. “The Select Committee on Social Services will oversee the departments of Health, Social Development, Women, Youth Development and Persons with Disabilities, and Statistics South Africa,” the committee explained.

Furthermore, the Select Committee on Education and Technology, Sports, Arts and Culture will oversee the departments of Basic Education, Higher Education, Science and Technology, Communications and Digital Technologies, and Sports, Arts and Culture.

Lastly, the Security Council.

“The Security Cluster has two committees, namely, the Select Committee on Security and Justice, overseeing the departments of Police, Justice and Correctional Services, Defence and Military Veterans, Home Affairs, State Security, and International Relations and Co-operation, and the Select Committee on Public Petitions and Executive Undertakings,” the committee said.

Elections on four NCOP vacancies

Meanwhile, the elections to fill the four vacancies in the NCOP for permanent deputy chairperson, House chairperson for committees, House chairperson for members support and international relations, and the programming whip of the NCOP have been scheduled to take place on Tuesday, 2 July 2024.

The Rules Committee comprises 20 Council members, including the permanent deputy chairperson, NCOP chief whip Kenneth Mmoiemang, the House chairpersons, the programming whip, and the provincial whips. Refilwe Mtsweni-Tsipane, who is the chairperson of the NCOP, chairs the committee.

The committee noted that NCOP Rule 133 provides that parties represented in the NCOP that do not have a provincial whip, are entitled to be represented in the Rules Committee.

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“The parties without provincial whips are the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), Freedom Front Plus (FF+); uMkhonto Wesizwe Party (MKP), Patriotic Alliance (PA), and the United Democratic Alliance (UDM). The EFF will be represented by Mandisa Makesini, FF+ by Tamarin Breedt, MKP by Seeng Mokoena, PA by Bino Farmer, and the UDM by Mandla Peter.

“The NCOP provincial whips are advocate Mwelo Nonkonyana (Eastern Cape), Mapule Dhlamini (Free State), Mpho Modise (Gauteng), Poobalan Govender (KwaZulu-Natal), Regina Molokomme (Limpopo), Sylvia Nxumalo (Mpumalanga), Solomon Mabilo (Northern Cape), Sylvia Sithole (North West), and Frederik Badenhorst (Western Cape),” the committee said.

The Committee also noted Rule 137 of the NCOP Rules, which states that the Rules Committee may establish a sub-committee that can make recommendations on the council rules, orders, proceedings, procedures, and practices.

For the current purposes, the committee said the five-member sub-committee includes the NCOP chairperson, NCOP chief whip, and Bhekizizwe Radebe from the African National Congress; Badenhorst from the Democratic Alliance and Makesini from the EFF.

“The NCOP Programming Committee, in terms of Rule 143, has the same members as the NCOP Rules Committee.”