Improving the effectiveness of the Mpumalanga representation in the National Council of Provinces

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT:Aim: To investigate whether Mpumalanga Province's representation in the NCOP canbe improved.Problem: The Mpumalanga Provincial Legislature is not performing as expected in theNCOP. The views of Mpumalanga Province are not articulated well in the NCOP. Thismay be as a result of a lack of research capacity within the Provincial Legislature. Theavailable researchers are not experienced in the political and policy environment. TheNCOP meeting cycle or timetable also does not allow enough time for the provinces toadequately prepare for pieces of legislation. There is further little or no interactionbetween the chairpersons of the Provincial Portfolio Committees and their counterpartsin the NCOP.There is poor coordination, planning and communication within the provinciallegislature. The Mpumalanga NCOP Liaison Office in Cape Town is not adding value tothe information flow from Parliament to the Mpumalanga Provincial Legislature. It isacting as a post box by passing information on without any further research and analysis.The research question is: How to improve the effectiveness of the Mpumalangarepresentation in the National Council of Provinces?Hypothesis: The role of the Mpumalanga NCOP Liaison Office in Parliament needs tobe redefined, and the research capacity of the Mpumalanga Provincial Legislature needsto be enhanced, in order to increase the effectiveness of the representation ofMpumalanga Province in the NCOP.Methodology: The following methods were used in this study;• Face to face interviews with the Chairperson of the NCOP, Ms N Pandor.• A structured questionnaire was sent to the Chief Whip of the NCOP, Mr. ESurty and selected members from the Mpumalanga Provincial Legislature.• Participant observation was used, as the researcher was, at the time of this study,an employee of the Mpumalanga Provincial Legislature stationed at the NCOP.• A literature study was also undertaken.Scope: The study concentrated on the Mpumalanga Provincial Legislature while lessonswere drawn from other provinces. There is no universally agreed upon criterion to judgewhat constitutes organizational effectiveness. Evidence from the literature revealed thatin order to improve organizational effectiveness, the Goal Attainment, Systems andStrategic Constituencies Approaches to organizational effectiveness need to becombined. These approaches are not mutually exclusive. The focus of the GoalAttainment Approach is mainly on ends while the Systems Approach concentrates onmeans to achieve the ends. The Strategic Constituencies Approach seeks to appeasethose stakeholders, in the environment, with potential to threaten organizational stability.Major Findings: Observation, personal experience and the responses from theinformants tended to confirm the hypothesis. This study revealed that the researchers ofthe Mpumalanga Provincial Legislature were not empowered to deal with legislativematters.Major ConclusionslRecommendations: The most important recommendations are;.:. That Parliament should introduce legislation that will enable Provincial Legislaturesto confer authority on their delegations to cast votes uniformly on their behalf in theNCOP .•:. That the brief of the provincial research unit be clearly specified.That a research agenda for each session of Parliament be set..:. That the role of Regis House staff be expanded to include research, administrationand liaison work..:. That all researchers and senior staff of the organization be re-briefed on thefunctioning of the Provincial Legislature .•:. That comparative research be conducted on KwaZulu Natal and Western Cape whoseemed to produce the best results.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University