Mayor must explain false insinuations made by Herron regarding NCOP visit

THE National Council of Provinces (NCOP) has noted, with concern, the statement issued by member of the mayoral committee (MMC) for transport in the City of Cape Town, Mr Brett Herron, in which the MMC alleges that members of the NCOP had acted in bad faith in the conduct of oversight during the visit to Phase 2 of the MyCiTi bus project in Plumstead, Cape Town, on Thursday, March 5, 2015.

Among the allegations made by MMC Herron in his statement is that the “ANC is hell-bent on sabotaging the MyCiTi project”, a false and misleading claim, as oversight conducted on Thursday forms part of the NCOP’s Taking Parliament to the People programme, scheduled to take place in Oudtshoorn from April 13 to 17. This is a programme initiated by Parliament in 2002 as part of its constitutional mandate to promote public participation.

Further disturbing to the NCOP is MMC Herron’s fierce objection to the oversight taking place in a public space with the involvement of affected residents. The NCOP, therefore, wishes to state unequivocally that as part of an institution, it is our responsibility to uphold the constitutional right of citizens to engage with members and to be involved in issues of governance.

As such, involvement in the oversight by members of the NCOP is one aspect of citizen participation in governance, hence our NCOP programmes are made public via different avenues like the website, to afford citizens an opportunity to participate and engage with members.

Consequently, with such false insinuations made by MMC Herron, chairperson of the NCOP, Honourable Thandi Modise, will seek an explanation from the executive mayor of the City of Cape Town, Patricia de Lille, over these allegations as they undermine the involvement of people in critical parliamentary processes. Tsepiso Shuenyane