The 2015 parliamentary year will be remembered as one of the most dramatic and eventful. The legislature had a bumper year of court battles, internal squabbles, brinkmanship, attempts to impeach the President, riot police batting with protesters and MPs and strike action. Despite all the sideshows and distractions, Parliament still ...

Parliament 2015 just drew to a close and the infographic below looks at how busy it was during each of its four terms, comparing numbers for committee meetings, constituency days, plenary sittings and legislation. Term 2 (April-June) was busiest in all respects - it had 35% of the 109 constituency ...

See infographic below:

The agricultural sector is vital to many livelihoods and it is a source of employment in rural communities with a significant contribution to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Statistics SA notes that the sector contracted 17% quarter on quarter largely due to the 2015 drought conditions.

The ...

On 18 November 2015 the Department of Correctional Services (DCS) in their presentation to the Portfolio Committee on Justice and Correctional Services explained that the electronic monitoring system (EMS)was a way of tracking and recording an offender’s location and movements with a device, usually attached to the ankle, linked to ...

The constituency period beckons, with MPs due to depart at the end of the week and return to Parliament next year. But a fair amount of heavy-duty business will be done before they go.

It's a big week in the NA chamber with MPs scheduled to sit for long hours ...

In 2014, the Minister of Higher Education launched 2014-2024 as the decade of the artisan. Increasing the number of artisans produced from 18 000 to 24 000 per annum was identified as a measurable target for the 2014-2019 Medium Term Strategic Framework. Currently South Africa has a shortfall of 40 ...

Forget the party battles and EFF gimmicks. The really titanic struggle being fought out in Parliament at the moment is between the staff and management over performance bonuses.

Workers began striking last week after accusing Parliament of reneging on a past agreement for performance bonuses to be paid based on ...

The Department of Water and Sanitation briefed the portfolio committee on the drought management in the country on Wednesday, 11 November 2015. This was followed up by a media briefing by the Inter-Ministerial Committee (IMC) responsible for the drought led by the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Pravin ...

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; processing of committee reports; discussions of national importance, legislative business and oral questions to the Deputy President and the Governance Cluster. The programme is a bit ...

In a joint meeting between the Portfolio Committee on Higher Education and the Standing and Select Committees on Appropriations, the Higher Education Minister presented the Department’s position on funding of the post-school education and training sector. President Jacob Zuma had recently announced that there would be a 0% increase in ...