My name is Obed Bapela. I'm a member of Parliament, still active, in South Africa.
I am in my ninth year as a member of Parliament--first for five years in a provincial Parliament, in a province, and now for four years in the National Assembly.
I was a member of the foreign affairs committee from 2002 until last year. Fortunately, I was promoted to a higher position, which I'm occupying now, called the House chairperson--it is an assistant speaker, but we decided to call it otherwise in South Africa--responsible for international relations of Parliament as an institution and for executing its mandate and programs.
I also belong to a group with the Netherlands Institute for Multiparty Democracy, which is looking at ruling parties and opposition parties forming some kind of dialogue in the southern region in east Africa. All parliaments will be brought together to talk about issues of common interest, such as transparency and people with vulnerabilities, such as the weak and the disabled and youth. How can we, as parliaments, play a role in terms of lifting their standards in society? There are quite a number of programs we are involved in. It's just a loose association of some sort that is sponsored by that body.
In our Parliament, the main sponsors, unfortunately.... CIDA has played a role, and Canada continues to play a role in South Africa--before the apartheid regime came down, Canada was so visible and opposed apartheid--on issues of capacity building, particularly for non-governmental organizations, capacity building for organizations, departments. But the leading funding currently is EU funding, which is doing a lot of capacity building continuously, while we also still benefit from Canadian funding in terms of those programs, particularly for non-governmental organizations and civil society.
It is the view, I think, of the Canadians--and which is working very well for us--that we need a very strong civil society movement. We also need very strong non-governmental organizations that can play a role in the oversight of society. Parliament is playing an oversight role, as an institution, over the executive. Civil society NGOs play a role in terms of facilitating and giving support, and also in ensuring, therefore, that society and democracy benefit everybody. I think that program has to continue in that direction, because it is beneficial to a number of us, particularly to those who are in government and those who are in Parliament who are able to engage with a civil society that is informed and a civil society that is sharp and that is ready and able to follow up on very critical situations in our country.
I thank you.