This week the Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA) Portfolio Committee tackled the contentious issue of municipal debt owed to Eskom and water boards. National Treasury was present on Tuesday, 12 May 2015, to defend its decision to withhold Equitable Share (ES) from municipalities that have not prioritised paying their ...

By Rofhiwa Maneta

Let’s have a frank conversation. How often do you keep up with parliament? Outside of the occasional parliamentary scuffle or the President’s annual State of the Nation Address (SONA), do you know what goes on inside the chambers of South Africa’s biggest law-making body? You should. Sure, ...

Parliament has scheduled a broad and busy programme in the main chambers as well as in the committee corridor.

The President’s oral question session in the NCOP (on Thursday) is the main plenary event. His responses to questions on the recent xenophobic attacks and the Report on Farlam Commission of ...

By Sheilan Clarke

Let’s be honest; making sense of laws, legislation and bills all sound daunting. But we still have a responsibility to know what they mean and the level of impact they have on our lives. But don’t worry, we’re here to show you how bills eventually become laws ...

On Tuesday, 5 May 2015, the African Centre for Migration and Society (ACMS) briefed the Home Affairs Portfolio Committee on migration trends and their implications. According to ACMS, most migration is domestic – province to province – while roughly 4.4% of the South African population were born outside of the ...

Since early March, portfolio committees have been meeting with departments and entities to process their budget votes and prepare reports.

The focus now shifts to the budget vote debates that commence tomorrow and run until the end of the month. These debates will happen in the Extended Public Committees (EPCs), ...

With the recent spate of violent xenophobic attacks, a National Joint Operational and Intelligence Structure (NATJOINTS) was activated to address and control the situation. On Tuesday, 28 April 2015, NATJOINTS briefed the Home Affairs Portfolio Committee on recent developments regarding attacks against foreign nationals, the root causes behind the violence, ...

Last week the Portfolio Committee on Home Affairs received a briefing on progress made with the smart ID card roll out. The Department of Home Affairs teamed up with the banking sector to implement the roll out of the new Smart ID cards. The process will see customers from FNB ...

Just like the rest of the country, Parliament vibrates with concern about the recent spate of xenophopic attacks . As part of countrywide efforts to counter these incidents, the legislature has suspended its plenary sittings for this week to allow MPs to go to their constituencies and mobilise their communities ...

On Tuesday, 21 April 2015, the Passenger Rail agency of South Africa (PRASA) presented its corporate plan to the Transport Portfolio Committee. They discussed the benefits of growing the rail service in terms on environmental benefits and in lure of rapid urbanisation. However, the presentation failed to touch on a ...