The National Council of Provinces (NCOP) will discuss and educate members of the public against violence targeted at foreign nationals, chairperson Thandi Modise said on Monday night.

Modise said during the parliamentary body's preliminary visits of the Taking Parliament to the People programme they would seek to address issues of migration. During the visits they will listen to issues raised by members of the public, adding that they had chosen to address the topic in Gauteng as the province has the highest inter-provincial migration in the country.

"One of the responsibilities of parliament is public participation which means we are forced to come down and hear what the people have to say. We are forced to take the inputs that come out of the general populace to the NCOP and the National Assembly. The constitution also says we must do public participation," she said.

The NCOP will this week visit three of the province's main municipalities. The meetings will be held at the Dlamini Multi-Purpose Centre in Soweto, the Springs Townhall in Ekurhuleni, the Stanza Bopape Community Hall and the Suurman Community Hall in Tshwane and the Westonaria Banqueting Hall in the West Rand.

"We will look at social services, peace and security. We will look at growth and development. We will look at human settlements and infrastructure."

The visit comes in the wake of violence targeting foreign nationals. Johannesburg municipality speaker Vasco Da Gama said they hope the visit will tackle the migration of undocumented people into the city. "As you said we have about 3500 people migrating into the city on a monthly basis," said Da Gama

Modise said they will also seek to address this by looking at the possibility of having a migration-considered budget allocation for metropolitan municipalities.