Parliament, Thursday, 11 July 2024 – The National Council Provinces (NCOP) today elected Select Committee Chairpersons following the establishment of the seventh administration of Parliament.

These committees are the engine rooms of Parliament where, among others, the work of the executive is scrutinised.

According to Rule 89 (1) of the NCOP, each province is entitled to be represented by at least one delegate on a committee except where the Rules provide otherwise orin the case of matters to which section 75 of the Constitution applies.

The chairpersons are elected from among the Permanent Delegates serving on the select committees. Because the NCOP has only 54 Permanent Delegates, each select committee shadows the work of more than one national government department. According to the Rules, the chairperson, among others, “presides over meetings” and “performs the functions, tasks and duties and exercises the powers that legislation, resolutions of the Council and the committee, or the parent committee in the case of a subcommittee, assigns to the chairperson”.

Permanent Delegates of the NCOP have elected the following 10 members to be chairpersons of the respective committees:

  • Select Committee on Education, Sciences and Creative Industries
    (Departments of Basic Education; Higher Education; Science, Technology and Innovations; Sports, Arts and Culture) - Mr Makhi Feni
  • Select Committee on Social Services
    (Departments of Health; Social Development; and Women, Youth Development and Persons with Disabilities) - Ms Desery Fienies
  • Select Committee on Security and Justice
    (Departments of Police; Justice and Constitutional Development; Correctional Services; Defence and Military Veterans; Home Affairs; and International Relations and Co-operation) - Ms Seboletswe Mananiso
  • Select Committee on Public Petitions and Executive Undertakings - Mr Ofentse Jeremiah Mokae
  • Select Committee on Economic Development and Trade
    (Departments of Economic Development; Trade, Industry and Competition; Communications and Digital Technologies; Small Business Development; Tourism; and Employment and Labour) - Ms Sonja Boshoff
  • Select Committee on Agriculture, Land Reform, and Mineral Resources
    (Departments of Agriculture; Land Reform and Rural Development; Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment; Mineral and Petroleum Resources; and Electricity and Energy) - Mr Mpho Modise
  • Select Committee on Public Infrastructure and Minister in Presidency
    (Departments of Public Works and Infrastructure; Transport; Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation; and Minister in the Presidency) - Mr Frederik Badenhorst
  • Select Committee on Cooperative Governance and Public Administration
    (Departments of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs; Public Service and Administration; Human Settlements; and Water and Sanitation) - Mr Thomas Kaunda
  • Select Committee on Finance - Ms Sanny Ndhlovu
  • Select Committee on Appropriations - Ms Tidimalo Legwase

 ISSUED BY PARLIAMENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA