In his Budget Vote address yesterday, Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Minister Pravin Gordhan, told MPs “the test of change is when citizens themselves attest that they have a decent living environment, they enjoy safety for themselves and their children, they can easily access educational and health facilities, they are ...
By Raymond Suttner.
Protests are an everyday feature of life in the new South Africa. This practical, lived experience raises questions that need examination. Does voting realise its promise, and does the system work for the electorate?
“The People Shall Govern!”- The Freedom Charter.
Images and reports of people taking ...
In September 2012, a global network of parliamentary monitoring organisations (PMOs) from 38 countries converged on Rome, Italy, for the launch of the World e-Parliament Conference 2012. The conference sought to facilitate discussions between PMOs on the best means of making all Parliaments 'open'; that is, to petition Parliaments to ...
Yesterday marked the beginning of the second week of meetings for parliamentary committees. Last week, Committees met to formally elect their Chairpersons, while this week will focus on presentations of Annual Performance Plans (APP) and Strategic Plans, as well as budget discussions. People’s Assembly attended a joint meeting of the ...
While Wednesday’s debate saw opposition leaders Mmusi Maimane and Julius Malema take centre state in the critique of the President’s State of the Nation Address (SONA), Thursday saw the ANC MPs rise to the challenge of defending the President’s speech. Today saw Zuma give a measured response to issues raised ...
People’s Assembly will be providing you with weekly updates on the State of the Nation Address (SONA), which will be happening shortly. This article will focus on logistical information such as when and where the SONA will take place, but also talks about the importance of it.
President Jacob Zuma’s ...
By Raymond Suttner
When we evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of our democracy we need to move beyond criticising our experience of parliamentarism – because political self-realisation can be understood in going beyond the periodic election of representatives.
Indeed the treatment of democracy as equivalent to representative democracy is relatively ...
In many democratic societies, questions of accountability and efficiency are constantly being raised. As the new government begins its term and members of cabinet are appointed, people may wonder: What is the relationship between Parliament and the Cabinet? Does that relationship benefit or harm my rights? The People’s Assembly is ...
Ebrahim Fakir
With South Africa’s 2014 elections done and dusted, it’s an appropriate time to consider serious electoral reform or, at the bare minimum, to introduce a base threshold of support that parties must receive if the pure proportional representation system is to be retained. It is almost intolerable that ...
With the final push for votes happening with a few days left until elections, many artists and famous persons are lending their names to political parties through a series of rallies and strategic appearances. Musical acts such as Freshly Ground and actors such as Zolisa Xavula (Jason from SABC’s Generations) ...