President Zuma will deliver the 2014 State of the Nation Address (SONA) to a Joint Sitting of the two Houses at 7pm from the National Assembly Chamber on Thursday 13 February. Although this is commonly regarded to be the official opening of Parliament, it is important to note that MPs ...

The Restitution of Land Rights Amendment Bill was passed by the Rural Development and Land Reform Portfolio Committee yesterday, 5 February, after what seemed like rushed deliberations.

The bill seeks to amend the Restitution of Land Rights Act of 1994 by extending the date for lodging a claim for restitution ...

On Wednesday 5 February, the new Auditor-General (AG) Mr Kimi Makwetu briefed the Standing Committee on Public Accounts (SCOPA) on the audit outcomes of national departments for 2012-13 (released in November 2013) unauthorised, irregular, fruitless and wasteful expenditure. The good news is that there are improvements, but the findings have ...

The Human Settlements Portfolio Committee met to discuss the re-introduced Rental Housing Amendment Bill. The bill was first introduced in 2011. This Committee made many amendments to it . However, it was withdrawn in mid 2012 by former Human Settlements Minister, Tokyo Sexwale, just before the National Assembly could vote ...

Following a briefing from the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) on their skills audit on Tuesday 4 February, DA member of the Portfolio Committee on Communications Ms Marian Shinn said that the SABC's presentation had given MPs “a snap shot of the very tragic state of the SABC... I have ...

After a protracted parliamentary process, the contentious Traditional Courts Bill (TCB) is back on the agenda! This may have come as a surprise to anyone reading this weekend’s Sunday Times, which reported that the ANC Women’s League, opposition parties and a number of civil society groups appeared to have won ...

In parliament on Wednesday 29 January, during public hearings on the controversial Women’s Empowerment and Gender Equality (WEGE) Bill to the Portfolio Committee on Women, Children and People with Disabilities, Sex Workers Education and Advocacy Taskforce (SWEAT) staged a demonstration in the committee room where Minister Lulu Xingwana was in ...

Criticising the Municipal Rates Amendment Bill, Mr Parks Tau, Johannesburg City Executive Mayor, spoke about its impact on the domestic ratepayer and city budgets. Exemption from rates was in the public service interest. The Bill would shift R400 million per annum from government to the ratepayer. The impact amounted to ...

After being voted through the National Assembly towards the end of 2013, opposition MPs kicked up enough fuss to get the Private Security Industry Regulation Amendment (PSIRA) Bill sent back to the Portfolio Committee on Police this year... only to get see it passed again on Wednesday 29 January, minutes ...

In front of a committee meeting packed with members of the public, think tanks, NGOs and the media on Wednesday, the Portfolio Committee on Police voted 7-3 in support of Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa’s controversial nomination of former Ekhuruleni Metro Police Chief Robert Robert McBride to head up the Independent ...