Samiksha Jaiswal (Editor)

National Council of Provinces

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National Council of Provinces

Type
  
Upper house of the Parliament of South Africa

Chairperson
  
Thandi Modise, ANC Since 22 May 2014

Deputy Chairperson
  
Raseriti Tau, ANC Since 22 May 2014

Leader of the Opposition
  
Cathlene Labuschagne, DA

Seats
  
90 (54 permanent, 36 special)

Political groups
  
ANC (33 + 27)          DA (13 + 7)          EFF (6 + 1)          Others (2 + 1)

The National Council of Provinces (NCOP) is the upper house of the Parliament of South Africa under the (post-apartheid) constitution which came into full effect in 1997. It replaced the former Senate, but is very similar to that body, and to many other upper houses of legislatures throughout the world, in that its purpose is to represent the governments of the provinces, rather than directly representing the people.

Contents

Composition

Election to the NCOP is indirect: citizens vote for provincial legislatures, and each legislature then nominates a delegation of ten members to the NCOP. This means that each of South Africa's nine provinces has equal representation in the Council regardless of population. Each provincial delegation consists of six permanent delegates, who are nominated for a term that lasts until a new provincial legislature is elected, and four special delegates. One of the special delegates is the province's Premier, or another member of the provincial legislature designated by the Premier, while the other three special delegates are designated ad hoc by the provincial legislature. The party representation in the delegation must proportionally reflect the party representation in the provincial legislature, according to a formula included in the Constitution. A delegation from the South African Local Government Association (SALGA), which represents the municipalities, may also attend sittings of the NCOP, but may not vote.

After the elections of 7 May 2014, the new provincial legislatures met on 21 May to elect NCOP delegations. The delegations elected are described in the following table.

Decisions

The NCOP may consider, amend, propose amendments to, or reject legislation. It must consider all national bills, and also has the power to initiate legislation in the functional areas where Parliament and the provincial legislatures have concurrent legislative power ("Schedule 4 areas").

The NCOP has three decision-making mechanisms depending on the type of bill:

  • "Section 74 bills" amend the Constitution; they may not deal with any matters other than constitutional amendments and matters related to the amendments. A bill that amends section 1 of the constitution (which defines South Africa as a constitutional democratic republic), or amends the Bill of Rights, or amends any constitutional provision affecting the NCOP itself, provincial boundaries or powers, or other specifically provincial matters, must be passed by the NCOP. Each delegation has one vote, and six of the nine delegations must approve the bill for it to pass. Other constitutional amendments do not have to be passed by the NCOP, but they must be debated publicly in the NCOP.
  • "Section 76 bills" fall into any of the Schedule 4 areas, as well as various other laws specifically envisaged in the Constitution. In handling Section 76 bills, each delegation has one vote, and five of the nine delegations must approve the bill for it to pass.
  • All other bills, specifically including money bills, are "Section 75 bills". In handling Section 75 bills, each delegate in the NCOP has a vote, and the bill must be approved by a majority of members present for it to pass.

    • In considering Section 74 and 76 bills, each delegation must vote in accordance with a mandate approved by the provincial legislature that it represents.

    Chairperson of the National Council of Provinces

    | 10 other official names: | Voorsitter van die Nasionale Raad van Provinsies (Afrikaans) | Usihlalo womKhandlu weNarha oNgamele iimFunda (Southern Ndebele) | uSihlalo weBhunga leSizwe lamaPhondo (Xhosa) | uSihlalo womMkhandlu kaZwelonke weziFundazwe (Zulu) | Sihlalo weMkhandlu waVelonkhe wetiFundza (Swati) | Modulasetulo wa Lekgotla la Bosetšhaba la Diprofense (Northern Sotho) | Modulasetulo wa Lekgotla la Naha la Diprofense (Sotho) | Monnasetulo wa Lekgotla la Bosetšhaba la Diporofense (Tswana) | Mutshamaxitulu wa Huvo ya Rixaka ya Swifundzhankulu (Tsonga) | Mudzulatshidulo wa Khoro ya Lushaka ya Mavunḓu (Venda)

    The following people have served as Chairperson of the NCOP:

    References

    National Council of Provinces Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA


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