National Council of Provinces

National Council of Provinces List 10 other official names: Nasionale Raad van Provinsies (Afrikaans) umKhandlu weNarha oNgamele iimFunda (Southern Ndebele) IBhunga leSizwe lamaPhondo (Xhosa) uMkhandlu kaZwelonke weziFundazwe (Zulu) uMkhandlu waVelonkhe wetiFundza (Swazi) Lekgotla la Bosetšhaba la Diprofense (Northern Sotho) Lekgotla la Naha la Diprofense (Sotho) Lekgotla la Bosetšhaba la Diporofense (Tswana) Huvo ya Rixaka ya Swifundzhankulu (Tsonga) Khoro ya Lushaka ya Mavunḓu (Venda)
27th Parliament
Type
Type	Upper house of the Parliament of South Africa
Leadership
Chairperson	Amos Masondo, ANC since 23 May 2019
Deputy Chairperson	Sylvia Lucas, ANC since 23 May 2019
Chief Whip	Seiso Mohai, ANC since 25 May 2017
Leader of the Opposition	Cathlene Labuschagne, DA since 19 September 2016
Structure
Seats	90 (54 permanent, 36 special)
Political groups	ANC (29 + 25)    DA (13 + 7)    EFF (9 + 2)    Others (3 + 2)
Elections
Last election	8 May 2019
Meeting place
NCOP Chamber, Houses of Parliament, Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa
Website
National Council of Provinces

The National Council of Provinces (NCOP) is the upper house of the Parliament of South Africa under the (post-apartheid) constitution which came into full effect in 1997. It replaced the former Senate, but is very similar to that body, and to many other upper houses of legislatures throughout the world, in that its purpose is to represent the governments of the provinces, rather than directly representing the people.^[1]