Parliament’s legislative function: What role does Nedlac play?

The National Economic Development and Labour Council (Nedlac) was established through an Act of Parliament in 1994; one of the first Acts of the democratic government. Government entities often consult with Nedlac on issues concerning labour and economic development, so what role do they play in policy development and the ...

Gender representation in Parliament: Beyond the numbers

As People’s Assembly recently published an infographic on the gender breakdown of seats in both houses of Parliament, we thought we’d go a step further and get some analysis on whether a higher number of women MPs translates into more gender equality in legislation. We caught up with honorary research ...

Zackie Achmat on the election results and what they mean

South African activist, Zachie Achmat expressed his views at the Hanns Seidel Foundation’s roundtable discussion regarding this year’s election results.

Achmat said the results affirmed the “enormous class and race divide” in our society due to people’s failure to vote. Over 40% of the electoral did not participate in elections. ...

New kid on the block EFF succeeds at the polls: What is next for them?

At 9am this morning after approximately 95% of votes had counted both nationally and in the Western Cape, the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) had garnered 1,024,104 national votes (6.13%) and 40 629 (2.08%), placing them third place in both races.

EFF's Premier candidate in the Western Cape, Nazier Paulsen, is ...

When is it bull-dozing?

Since the start of this election year, accusations have been made about important pieces of legislation being pushed or “bulldozed” through Parliament, specifically pointing fingers at the ruling party who has been accused of rushing through bills to garner more support from the public.

Some of the concerns were that ...

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 ...

Secondment – Minister speaks about its constitutionality

Minister of Public Service and Administration, Lindiwe Sisulu, and her legal adviser, Advocate Menzi Simelane, presented aspects of the constitutionality of the Public Administration Management (PAM) Bill yesterday to the Portfolio Committee on Public Service and Administration.

The issues that were raised in the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) ...

#Fixthebudget Protest Outside Parliament

Progressive

Singing, chanting slogans and waving #Fixthebudget placards,civil society advocacy groups and NGOS such as the Treatment Action (TAC) Campaign, Section 27, the Budget and Expenditure Monitoring Forum (BEMF), the Progressive Youth Movement and others, gathered outside the gates of Parliament on Tuesday, 25 February, to voice their concerns around tomorrow's ...