A joint group of National Council of Provinces (NCOP)and Gauteng Provincial Legislature members visiting theJohannesburg Metropolitan Municipality, listened to a litany of service delivery challenges during the first day of Taking Parliament to the People (TPTTP) programme in Gauteng.

The TPTTP visit,held under the theme:"Impact of migration – Deepeningcooperativegovernance for accelerated service delivery and development",was launched by the Chairperson of the NCOP, Ms Thandi Modise in Sandton last night through a networking session with the media. Eight groups of MPs and MPLs began a series of briefings this morning followed by visits to service delivery sites in all four big municipalities of the Gauteng province.

One of the eight groups,led by theChairperson of the Select Committeeon Education and Recreation,MsLynettZwane,received a briefing from theGauteng'sDepartments ofEconomic Development, Education, Health,Infrastructure Development,Human Settlements andCommunitySafety, as well asnational departments of Home Affairs andCorrectional Services. The focus of the presentations was on progress made and how migration affected service delivery.The delegation expressed its disappointment at the failure of the City of Johannesburg to give a report to the NCOP led delegation."It is concerning that the City denied us of a very important briefing on the impact of migration in the City and how it has affected the City in terms of service delivery," Ms Zwane said.

TheNCOPand Gauteng Provincial Legislaturedelegation were informed that47 percent ofinternational migrants settle in the Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipal area without validated documents.Furthermore, the Johannesburg metroattracts migrantsfrom other provinces like Limpopo, Kwazulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape. All departmentsreflected on how theinfluxof people from across all other provinces and internationally puts ahugestrain on theageinginfrastructurein the Johannesburg Metropolitan Area and the limited resources.

The Gauteng's Department ofEconomic Development reflected on challenges facingSmall, Medium and Micro Enterprises (SMMEs) and the outflow of an estimatedR8 billion from the Johannesburg townships per annually because of among others, the consumption-oriented economic models. The Department said:"Due to the effects of migration, over the past five years, the provincial mandate and the demand for entrepreneurial development has increased, while resources to meet the growing demands have diminished".

The Department of Education also saidmigration negatively affected themajority of schools which reach their fullcapacity as early as the end of October every year.They said the influx of learners into the Metros, year-on-year, disrupted planning processes of the education system. Thesecurity and safety of schoolscontinue to be strained by manyanti-social activities such as bullying, gangsterism, sexual violence, criminality and substances abuse by among others children.

The Chairperson of the NCOP, Ms Thandi Modise saidsome of the reports presented were very concerning."What worries me is the safety report. I want to challenge the police departmentto deal with the matter of theexpired goods, drugs andcriminalactivitiesin Johannesburg.Some of the responses have policy gapsandrequireseriousfollow-ups. As the NCOP weare here to listen, compare,advice on policy mattersandtoensure thatallissues raised receive the necessaryattention," added Ms Modise.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Republic of South Africa: The Parliament.