Promoting provincial interests : the role of the NCOP in the national legislature

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT:The study's investigation focuses on the role played by the NCOP in the nationallegislature as the second chamber of parliament. It looks in particular at how theNCOP has managed in its deliberations, and as mandated by the Constitution torepresent provinces. Subsection 42 (4) of the Constitution stipulates that;The NCOPrepresent the provinces to ensure that provincial interests are taken into account inthe national sphere of government (RSA Act 108, 1996).The question that the study seeks to answer IS: does the National Council ofProvinces in its deliberations work to represent the interests of provinces in thenational legislature rather than those of the party in control of the province? Inanswering the research question the study's approach is qualitative in nature. In otherwords, data collection methods were confined to documents and other importantsources such as NCOP Publications namely, the NCOP News and the NCOP Review.Looking at the literature on second chambers, the study found that for secondchambers to play an effective role in the legislature, the Constitution must equip themwith adequate legislative powers. This means that the Constitution must give secondchambers a veto on all Bills affecting their jurisdictions. Where a veto is non existent,irrespective of what legislative powers a second chamber may posses, if not electeddirectly by the electorate, it will suffer the accusations of rubber stamping Bills passedby the first house.The NCOP falls in the same category of second houses with no veto over Billsaffecting provinces. Its legislative powers on these Bills are blunted by the NA's twothirdsmajority in the legislature and as a result remain a subordinate of the first houseand that of the ruling party. Furthermore, administrative and communication problemsexperienced by the institution hinder it in its role of representing provinces. Equallyso, the dominance of the ruling ANC in the provinces makes it difficult to determinewhether mandates delivered by provincial legislatures carry the interests of provincesor those of the party in power.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University