National Council of Provinces

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.<ref name="ncop-web">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Composition

The NCOP consists of ninety delegates, ten delegates for each of the nine provinces regardless of the population of the province. Each province is equally represented in the NCOP.

A provincial delegation is composed of six permanent delegates and four special delegates. The party representation in the delegation must proportionally reflect the party representation in the provincial legislature, based on a formula included in the Constitution.

The permanent delegates are selected by the nine provincial legislatures. The four special delegates include the Premier of the province and three other delegates. They are nominated by each province from the members of the provincial legislature and are contingent on the subject matter being considered by the NCOP. The premier leads the province's delegation in the NCOP, but they can choose any of the other delegates to head the delegation in their absence.

The South African Local Government Association (SALGA) is also part of the NCOP. SALGA has 10 delegates who may partake in the debates and other activities, but they do not vote.

Current composition

After the elections of 29 May 2024, the new provincial legislatures met on 13 and 14 June 2024 to elect NCOP delegations. The first sitting of the NCOP took place on 15 June 2024. The delegations elected are described in the following table.

Party		Delegate type	Province									Total
			EC	FS	G	KZN	L	M	NW	NC	WC
bgcolor=Template:Party color rowspan=2|	African National Congress	Permanent	3	3	2	1	4	3	4	3	1	24	43
Special		3	2	2	1	4	2	2	2	1	19
bgcolor=Template:Party color rowspan=2|	Democratic Alliance	Permanent	1	1	2	1	1	1	1	1	3	12	20
Special		1	1	1				1	1	3	8
bgcolor="Template:Party color" rowspan="2" |	Economic Freedom Fighters	Permanent	1	1	1		1	1	1	1	1	8	10
Special							1	1			2
bgcolor=Template:Party color rowspan=2|	UMkhonto WeSizwe	Permanent			1	3		1				5	9
Special			1		2		1				4
bgcolor="Template:Party color" |	Freedom Front Plus	Permanent		1						1		2	2
bgcolor="Template:Party color" rowspan="2" |	Inkatha Freedom Party	Permanent				1						1	2
Special					1						1
bgcolor="Template:Party color" rowspan="2" |	Patriotic Alliance	Permanent									1	1	2
Special									1		1
bgcolor="Template:Party color" |	United Democratic Movement	Permanent	1									1	1
bgcolor="Template:Party color" |	ActionSA	Special			1							1	1
Total			10	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	90

Population per delegate

Province	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>!! Population per delegate
Eastern Cape	7,230,204	723,020.4
Free State	2,964,412	296,441.2
Gauteng	15,099,422	1,509,942.2
KwaZulu-Natal	12,423,907	1,242,390.7
Limpopo	6,572,720	657,272.0
Mpumalanga	5,143,324	514,332.4
North West	3,804,548	380,454.8
Northern Cape	1,355,946	135,594.6
Western Cape	7,433,019	743,301.9
South Africa	62,027,503	689,194.5

Role in the legislative process

The NCOP may consider, amend, propose amendments to, or reject the 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.<ref name="ncop-web" />

The NCOP has four decision-making mechanisms depending on the type of bill:<ref name="const-nlp">Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996, ss. 73–77.</ref>

• Section 74 bills; 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 75 Bills; These bills are managed with regard to the process specified in section 75 of the Constitution. When voting on these Bills, delegates vote individually. The Bill is approved when a simple majority of delegates vote for the Bill.
• Section 76 Bills; Bills that concern the provinces are mainly those that correlate with areas of combined national and provincial legislative powers. These Bills are dealt with in the provision of the procedure in section 76 of the Constitution. When voting on these bills, the nine provincial delegations vote in line with the instruction communicated to them by their respective provincial legislatures. Each delegation has one vote. The Bill is approved if a majority of delegations vote for the Bill.
• Section 77 Bills; These are Bills which cover the appropriation of money, the enactment of national taxes, levies, duties or surcharges. They are handled with reference to the process delineated in section 77 of the Constitution. Delegates vote individually. The Bill is accepted when the majority of delegates vote to approve it.

Office bearers

Chairperson and deputy chairperson

The office of President of the Senate was succeeded by the office of chairperson of the National Council of Provinces in 1997. The inaugural holder of the position was Mosiuoa Lekota. He served as chairperson from 1997 to 1999. The chairperson is elected from the permanent delegates for a five-year term. The election of the chairperson is presided over by the Chief Justice of South Africa. The Chief Justice can, however, designate another judge to preside. The chairperson, in turn, presides over the other elections that takes place in the chamber. The legislative body also elects a permanent deputy chairperson. A second deputy chairperson is elected for a one-year term. The position rotates between the nine provinces, enabling the provinces to have its members elected second deputy chairpersos.,

The chairperson chairs all the sittings of the National Council of the Provinces. If the chairperson is not present at the sittings, the deputy chairperson or House Chairpersons can preside over the sitting of the chamber.<ref>NCOP PRESIDING OFFICERS. Retrieved on 28 December 2018.</ref>

The current chairperson is Refilwe Mtsweni-Tsipane who took office on 15 June 2024. The following people have served as chairperson of the NCOP:

Template:Abbr	Portrait	Name Template:Small	Term of office			Political party
			Took office	Left office	Time in office
style="background:Template:Party color; color:white;"| 1	File:Mosiuoa Lekota, 000215-D-9880W-112 detail.jpg	Mosiuoa Lekota Template:Small	6 February 1997	21 June 1999	Template:Age in years and days	African National Congress
style="background:Template:Party color; color:white;"| 2	File:Naledi Pandor 2012.jpg	Naledi Pandor Template:Small	21 June 1999	4 May 2004	Template:Age in years and days	African National Congress
style="background:Template:Party color; color:white;"| 3	File:No image.png	Joyce Kgoali Template:Small	4 May 2004	21 November 2004 Template:Small	Template:Age in years and days	African National Congress
style="background:Template:Party color; color:white;"| 4	File:Mninwa Johannes Mahlangu.jpg	Mninwa Johannes Mahlangu Template:Small	17 January 2005 Template:Small	22 May 2014	Template:Age in years and days	African National Congress
style="background:Template:Party color; color:white;"| 5	File:Spotkanie premier Beaty Szydło z Thandi Modise (cropped).jpg	Thandi Modise Template:Small	22 May 2014	22 May 2019	Template:Age in years years	African National Congress
style="background:Template:Party color; color:white;"| 6	File:Manmohan Singh being presented with an appreciation medal by the Executive Mayor, Mr. Amos Masondo at the inauguration of the permanent exhibition - Gandhi A Prisoner of Conscience, at Johannesburg, South Africa (cropped).jpg	Amos Masondo Template:Small	23 May 2019	28 May 2024	Template:Age in years and days	African National Congress
style="background:Template:Party color; color:white;"| 7	File:Refilwe Mtsweni-Tsipane (cropped).jpg	Refilwe Mtsweni-Tsipane Template:Small	15 June 2024	Incumbent	Template:Age in years and days	African National Congress

Timeline

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 from: 21/06/1999 till: 04/05/2004 color:anc text:"Naledi Pandor"
bar:Kgoali
 from: 04/05/2004 till: 21/11/2004 color:anc text:"Joyce Kgoali"
bar:Mahlangu
 from: 21/11/2004 till: 22/05/2014 color:anc text:"Mninwa Johannes Mahlangu"
bar:Modise
 from: 22/05/2014 till: 22/05/2019 color:anc text:"Thandi Modise"
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 from: 15/06/2024 till: $today     color:anc text:"Refilwe Mtsweni-Tsipane"

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Chairperson of the Committees

The chairperson of the committees is appointed by the members of the legislature. The position holds the following roles, including presiding over the meeting of the committee of chairpersons, approve the budget and expenditures of the committees and to preside over sittings of the House, when requested or when the chairperson and deputy chairperson are not available.

Chief Whips and Party Whips

Whips represent their individual parties' interests and ensure the discipline of their members. They also ensure that their parties function effectively. There are two Chief Whips who are official office bearers, the Chief Whip of the majority party and the Chief Whip of the largest opposition party. The smaller parties have Senior Whips assisted by a number of whips. The Chief Whips are formally appointed by the chairperson. The Chief Whip of the majority party is responsible for the detailed arrangement of the legislative business.<ref>National Council of Provinces. Retrieved on 29 December 2018.</ref>

Leader of the Opposition

The position is designated to the leader of the largest opposition party in the legislature. Cathlene Labuschagne of the Democratic Alliance has been serving as Leader of the Opposition since her election in September 2016.

See also

• Provincial legislature (South Africa)
• List of National Council of Provinces members of the 28th Parliament of South Africa
• Federalism
• National Assembly of South Africa

External links

• Parliament of South Africa: National Council of Provinces