There's little action on display in the main chambers and committee corridor this week.
The programme has been curtailed in order to give committees time to finalise critical legislation and other work. In addition, the revised schedule has made provision for committee chairpersons to receive media communications training. This is ...
On Wednesday, 19 August 2015, SAPS briefed the Portfolio Committee on Police on progress made with Operation Fiela to date. The programme has come under fire recently with media saying that Operation Fiela, which is supposed to combat crime, seems to be targeted at foreign nationals. SAPS’ presentation showed that ...
This week marks the mid-way point of the third term and the programme has a familiar pattern: lots of unglamorous legislating, oversight and scrutinising, with some set piece battles in prospect.
Fireworks are expected during the debate on the parliamentary ad hoc committee report on the Nkandla upgrades. MPs visited ...
On Wednesday, 12 August 2015, the Department of Public Service and Administration told MPs that departments did not meet the target for employing 50% of women and 2% of persons with disabilities in the public service sector. According to the Department’s records, employment of women at Senior Management Service level ...
By Sheilan Clarke
Statistics show that 35.2% of South African cabinet ministers are women while 41.5% are parliamentarians. This means that of the 54 cabinet ministers, only 19 of them are women and out of a total of 400 parliamentarians, 166 are women. This is according to a United Nations ...
There's both high policy and low politics on display in the main chambers this week. The National Assembly offers a blend of members' statements, a discussion of national importance, legislative business and oral questions to the Deputy President and Peace and Security Cluster. The programme is a bit more pedestrian ...
On Tuesday, 4 August 2015, the Department of Basic Education briefed the Basic Education Portfolio Committee on violence plaguing schools in South Africa. The Department blamed the legacy of apartheid, as well as current socio-economic realities such as extreme inequality for the high prevalence of violence in schools. A closer ...
After a low key week, the National Assembly chamber has shifted gears and arranged a busy programme, which includes ministerial statements, policy debates, oral questions and the processing of assorted bills and statutory instruments. It’s rather quieter in the NCOP chamber, where internal work dominates and any kind of contested ...
On Wednesday, 29 July 2015, Parliament held a Round Table for young parliamentarians from all legislatures in the country to debate the implementation of the National Development Plan (NDP), specifically focusing on challenges facing the youth. The idea is to ensure that policies are developed to realise the objectives of ...
There is some very significant Committee action this week that will keep the legislature firmly in the spotlight. Regrettably, this means there will also be plenty of opportunity for posturing and point scoring as political parties try to attract publicity and out manoeuvre each other.
The parliamentary ad hoc committee ...
Recent happenings in Parliament