National Council of Provinces

National Council of Provinces
26th South African Parliament
Type
Type	Upper house of the Parliament of South Africa
Leadership
Chairperson	Thandi Modise, ANC Since 22 May 2014
Deputy Chairperson	Raseriti Tau, ANC Since 22 May 2014
Leader of the Opposition	Elza van Lingen, DA
Structure
Seats	90 (54 permanent, 36 special)
Political groups	ANC (33 + 27)          DA (13 + 7)          EFF (6 + 1)          Others (2 + 1)
Elections
Voting system	Indirect proportional representation from provincial legislatures
Last election	21 May 2014
Meeting place
NCOP Chamber, Houses of Parliament, Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa
Website
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.

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.

Party		Delegate type	Province									Total
			EC	FS	G	KZN	L	M	NW	NC	WC
	African National Congress	Permanent	4	4	3	4	4	4	4	4	2	33	60
		Special	3	3	2	3	4	4	3	3	2	27
	Democratic Alliance	Permanent	1	1	2	1	1	1	1	1	4	13	20
		Special	1	1	2					1	2	7
	Economic Freedom Fighters	Permanent		1	1		1	1	1	1		6	7
		Special							1			1
	Inkatha Freedom Party	Permanent				1						1
	National Freedom Party	Special				1						1
	United Democratic Movement	Permanent	1									1
Total			10	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	90

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.

Chairpersons

Further information: President of the Senate of South Africa § Chairpersons of the National Council of Provinces (1997–Present)

The following people have served as Chairperson of the NCOP:

Name	Term	Party
Patrick Lekota	6 February 1997 – 21 June 1999	ANC
Naledi Pandor	21 June 1999 – 4 May 2004	ANC
Joyce Kgoali	4 May 2004 – 21 November 2004	ANC
M. J. Mahlangu	21 November 2004 – 22 May 2014 (acting to 17 January 2005)	ANC
Thandi Modise	22 May 2014 – Present	ANC

See also

• Provincial legislature (South Africa)
• List of members of the National Council of Provinces
• Federalism

External links

• Parliament of South Africa: National Council of Provinces