Petition The NCPL
1. Petitioning the Northern Cape Provincial Legislature
- Petitioning the Legislature is one way of ensuring that services are delivered to citizens and that taxpayers’ money is spent wisely on public programmes and initiatives.
- Essential part of Public Participation is petitioning the Legislature which is one way of making sure that your views and needs are heard instead of service delivery protests or burning and destroying government buildings or service delivery points
- You may petition the Provincial Legislature on any matter for which the local, provincial or national government is responsible
2. Purpose of a Petition
- The purpose of a petition is to seek relief from the Legislature where all other appropriate or lawful avenues for relief have been exhausted by a petitioner
3. Right to Petition
- A petition may be submitted by an individual acting on his/her own interest in a form of a letter or interest of another person or a group/ public interest which includes collection of signatures from all petitioners
4. Scope of the Act
petition may address any matter -
- within the legislative authority of the Province
- within the executive authority of the Province
- assigned to a member of the Executive Council
- relating to the provincial supervision of local government
5. Requirement of a Petition
A petition must:
- fall within the scope of jurisdiction;
- Not concern a matter pending in a court of law or other tribunal or forum;
- Not be in connection with the conviction and sentencing by a criminal court of law of a convicted person;
- Not deal with a matter which is already before a committee
6. Types of Petitions
- single petition = single petitioner
- association petition = single petitioner mandated by an association/organisation
- collective petition = collection of signatures from a number of petitioners
- mass or group petition = submissions from a number of petitioners dealing with single or same or substantially similar complaints or requests
7. Who may Submit a Petition
- petition may be submitted by a person acting either in his or her own interest;
- in the interest of another person who is not in a position to submit a petition in his or her own name/capacity;
- as a member of or in the interest of a group or class of persons; and in the public interest
