Cape Town - Parliament's National Council of Provinces (NCOP) chairman, Mninwa Mahlangu, has urged his team in the select committees to work harder in delivering services to the people.
Mahlangu addressed the NCOP on Tuesday during his house's Budget Vote debate.
To propel the functioning of the house, he said they had been allocated over R1.6 billion for the 2011/12 financial period; R410 million had been earmarked for Members of Parliament (MPs) salaries, R15 million for the select committees, while R288 million would be channeled towards political parties represented in the house.
In the past financial year, Mahlangu said the NCOP had tabled 628 questions for the executive to answer, and he was "happy to announce that, of that figure, 566 had been replied to, while only 62 had not received responses."
In the same period, he added that they had processed 23 bills.
Mahlangu said they were in the process of upgrading the poor audio and video systems in the National Assembly and the NCOP.
Responding to the presentation, COPE's Dennis Bloem complained that the image of the house needed to be spruced up as the media and the public were not taking them seriously.
He said the members needed to "feel that we are part and parcel of the election...we are not from the back door."
Bloem said they needed to go on a publicity campaign in places such as schools and churches.
Because of their invisibility, he said most people thought that the National Assembly was the Parliament.
Mahlangu's speech was welcomed by the African National Congress, who also called for more support for members as they do their work in constituencies.
The party also said that members should be able to stay close to work and concentrate on the job at hand and not spend a lot of time traveling.
