Equal Education members rally against educational inequality

EE: education inequality

Over 2000 Equal Education (EE) members will be marching to the Western Cape Provincial Legislature on Friday 31 October, where they will hold a rally against educational inequality. Speeches describing a wide range of challenges facing schools will be made by “Equalisers” from across the Cape Peninsula, and ...

Minister of Finance Medium Term Budget Policy Statement

Medium Term Budget Policy Statement Speech 2014

By Minister of Finance, Nhlanhla Nene

Honourable Speaker Mister President Deputy President Cabinet Colleagues and Deputy Ministers Governor and Governor-Designate of the Reserve Bank MECs of Finance Honourable Members Fellow South Africans

It is my privilege to present the 2014 Medium Term Budget ...

Calls for establishment of ad hoc committee as President’s Nkandla report tabled

President Javcob Zuma’s report on the security upgrades for his private residence in Nkandla has been tabled in Parliament, appearing in the Announcements, Tablings and Committee Reports (ATC) today. The report has been tabled after the President missed the 30-day deadline declared by the ANC’s chief whip’s office on ...

The Right Not to Vote

With the 2014 elections fast approaching, some media reports have bemoaned levels of voter apathy in South Africa, with The Citizen declaring “SA Voter Apathy Worrying” (The Citizen, 4 March, 2014) and The Star calling for “Change Needed to Fight Voter Apathy” (The Star, 7 November 2013). But while ...

"Why I am spoiling my ballot"

In an opinion piece published in City Press last year, outspoken writer TO Molefe boldly declared that he was going to spoil his ballot in protest during the upcoming elections. He explained that many people have reacted in shock to his decision.

“Others think I lose my right to complain ...

NGOs and MPs highlight inequality in access to justice within vulnerable groups

Civil society organisations and MPs, during a recent Roundtable on empowerment and the rights of women, children and the elderly, highlighted, during the general discussion of the issues, a more nuanced problem of how, within vulnerable groups, there were differing abilities to access justice. They noted unequal access to justice ...

National Assembly passes Property Valuation Bill

Despite objections from the DA, FF Plus and the ACDP, on 12 March 2014 the ANC majority in the National Assembly ensured the passing of the Property Valuation Bill. The bill, which aims to regulate the prices government pay for land for reform purposes, has now been referred to the ...

"Secondment" Bill bulldozed through Parliament?

Most Members of the Democratic Alliance walked out of the National Assembly yesterday as the vote to adopt the Public Administration Management (PAM) Bill took place. According to the DA, the Bill has been rushed through Parliament, evident by the fact that public hearings on the Bill were held on ...

Conservative spending or widening the deficit?

Today, the Select Committee on Appropriations received a post-budget presentation from the Parliamentary Budget Office (PBO), focusing on various factors affecting revenue and expenditure as well as the country’s economic growth, which is predicted to be quite low over the next three years. The question also arose as to whether ...

SANDF facilities in disrepair: Defence Department holds Public Works responsible

Today, Secretary of Defence, Dr Sam Gulube, reported back to the Portfolio Committee on Defence and Military Veterans about the strained relations between the Departments of Defence and Public Works with regards to a massive backlog in the poor maintenance of South African National Defence Force (SANDF) facilities.

The backlog ...