Deputy Chairperson, thank you for the opportunity given to participate in this debate. Our Constitution enjoins the NCOP to provide the national forum for public consideration of issues affecting the provinces.
As part of responding to this constitutional injunction, the NCOP took the Taking Parliament to the People programme to the Free State in November 2010. This was the second activity since we adopted the new approach at the beginning of the term. The new approach was informed by our deliberations during the strategic plans sessions which were held in August 2009, where it was agreed that the Taking Parliament to the People programme should be preceded by intensive preplanning activities, including research and public engagements.
Hon members, I hope you will agree with me that this new approach, which we introduced in Limpopo early last year, is working. Preliminary activities in the Free State culminated in the public meeting held on 2 October. During this public meeting people raised a number of issues that helped to shape the programme of that particular Taking Parliament to the People visit, because we wanted the people to own the programme, and not have us telling them what we are going to do to them.
Therefore, I am very proud to announce that the people of the Free State actually had drawn up that programme and interacted with us very effectively. As a consequence, the agenda for the programme which took place on 15 to 19 November, under the theme All Spheres of Government Working Together to Speed Up the Delivery of Services, focused on the following issues: enhancing co-operative governance and intergovernmental relations; accelerating delivery of basic services; promoting development through empowering rural communities; improving the health profile of citizens; strengthening the skills and human resource base; speeding up delivery of Public Works projects, quality human settlements and local economic development; ensuring sustainable resource management and use; intensifying the fight against crime and corruption; and building cohesive, caring and sustainable communities.
These topics were used to guide the public hearings, which entailed direct interaction between the people and their leaders from three spheres of government as well as oversight work in the form of site visits. The issues picked up during the course of our visits were indeed not new or unique. They have been raised, perhaps in different ways, in the provinces we visited before under the auspices of the NCOP's flagship programme Taking Parliament to the People.
For example, they related to common challenges such as poor road infrastructure; challenges with regard to provision of electricity; crippling unemployment, especially among the youth; housing, especially with regard to the management of beneficiaries; land reform processes, including farm evictions; school infrastructure; provision of health care, especially the need for improved access to health services; poor condition of water treatment facilities and related challenges with regard to sanitation; the need for the creation of a caring environment, especially user-friendly facilities for people with disabilities and support to self- help initiatives, especially in relation to social and economic development.
In order to respond to these challenges, some interventions and commitments were made. These include, but are not limited to the following: Firstly, in order to address the challenge where some municipalities do not have the capacity to implement programmes that require specialised skills, a commitment was made to the effect that such municipalities would be identified and the necessary assistance galvanised.
Secondly, in response to the plight of the people who have been without electricity for more than 10 years, the Maluti-A-Phofung Local Municipality undertook to ensure that electricity is installed, thus bringing a better life to the people who had no electricity before.
Thirdly, the premier committed himself to ensuring that the elderly were given priority when allocating houses, and to ensuring that the construction companies that do not complete housing projects or that carry out shoddy work were prosecuted and blacklisted.
Fourthly, in respect of outstanding land claims and with the view to facilitating rural development, the Minister of Rural Development and Land Reform has put the Free State on the priority list. People had raised the issue of the slow pace in the resolution of land claims and we hope that the intervention by the department will respond to this challenge.
Fifthly, a group of youths running the Pigzone Farmers' Project in Phumelela Local Municipality will receive assistance with regard to infrastructure and professional support, as the department of agriculture in the province has committed itself to funding the environmental impact study and the project as a way of supporting this initiative.
Sixthly, allegations of practitioners working few hours, particularly in the health sector, which is one of the priorities of government, are going to be investigated by the relevant MEC in that province.
Seventhly, police patrols in the Qwaqwa area are going to be introduced to deal with the issue of rising crime levels. The police patrols will be working with community police forums.
Eighthly, the Minister of Social Development has undertaken to provide stipends to all the caregivers at the Limakatso Disabled Centre in Harrismith, which is one of the places we visited during the week as part of our oversight function.
What was more gratifying, over and above witnessing direct accountability of government to the people, was the acknowledgement of the leadership of the different spheres of government that co-operation was crucial in improving the delivery of services. This is key to ensure a seamless and effective system of government operating at different spheres within the context of a unified state, as Premier Magashule stated.
The NCOP has the responsibility to promote co-operation in and co- ordination of service delivery efforts by all the three spheres of government. Through our committees, we will monitor the responses by the three spheres of government to the issues that were raised by the people. We will then go back again towards the end of 2011 to see to what extent these interventions have changed the lives of the people for the better.
In fact, the premier has challenged us to go back in August this year to check the progress. This will form part of the continuous engagement with the province for the duration of the fourth term of Parliament, as many of the issues raised require short-, medium- and long-term solutions.
It is due to the sterling work and co-operation by the different role- players and stakeholders, especially the people, that the Free State programme was, by many standards, the most successful Taking Parliament to the People programme in the history of the NCOP. However, the success of the visit will depend on how the collective attend to the issues raised by the people.
As presiding officers, we are convinced that there are many ways in which we can improve follow-up on issues that are raised during our Taking Parliament to the People programme. Besides strengthening committees' oversight work in this area, we can use the Provincial Week to conduct follow-ups.
Delegates have a primary responsibility to bring to this House challenges faced by the provinces, especially on issues that have been brought to us. I am happy that some members of the Limpopo delegation are in the Sekhukhune district currently, to follow up on the issues raised during our visit there in March. I will personally be taking the two House Chairpersons on Tuesday next week. We will be on the ground to deal with some of the work that has been done. This is in preparation for the meeting of the leadership of the NCOP at the provincial local government that will be taking place in due course.
Committees are expected to develop a detailed follow-up programme in respect of the provinces we have touched so far. This must include areas that were touched in the Third Parliament to ensure continuity and responsiveness.
I hereby place before this House the draft report on the Taking Parliament to the People programme held in the Free State for consideration. Just to alert the House, the presiding officers have decided this morning that our next Taking Parliament to the People programme visit will be to KwaZulu- Natal in November. Thank you very much.