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This afternoon, the Western Cape Provincial Parliament's Ad-hoc Committee on the Western Cape Provincial Powers Bill was briefed on the particulars of the Bill by Hon. Christopher Fry, the sponsor of the legislation. The Committee resolved to request a formal legal opinion in order to determine the constitutionality of the Bill before the public makes their voices heard.

The Western Cape Provincial Powers Bill is designed to grant the Western Cape Government a strong legal mandate for the devolution of five key areas of government responsibility. These are: policing, rail and public transport, energy, trade and harbours.

If the Bill passes and devolution is achieved in these areas, the Western Cape Government will be able to fix longstanding service delivery problems that national government has proven unable or unwilling to resolve. Many of these issues are of particular interest to the people of the Western Cape. With these areas under the mandate of the Western Cape Government, problems such as loadshedding, the under resourcing of SAPS and the failure of Prasa to ensure reliable rail transport can be brought to an end once and for all.

Once the formal written legal opinion requested today has been tabled before the Committee, the public will have the opportunity to voice their opinions on the Bill.

Ad-hoc committee member Isaac Sileku says: "I am confident that our committee's due diligence will ensure that this Bill passes constitutional muster. I would encourage communities to come out in their numbers, and voice their support for the Bill when the public participation process gets underway."

Issued by Isaac Sileku, MPP - Member of Ad-hoc Committee on Western Cape Provincial Powers Bill