Community essential to police work, says Minister

In his Police Budget Vote address in Parliament on Monday, Minister of Police Nkosinathi Nhleko, said that policing cannot exist without community support and participation, and that policing needs to continue to be subjected to public scrutiny to keep them accountable.

“The NDP [National Development Plan] envisions a state with ...

Local Government getting back to basics, says Minister

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 ...

DA and EFF rip into Public Works Department calling it “Department of Jokes”

During the debate on Budget Vote 7: Public Works in Parliament yesterday, DA Shadow Minister of Public Works, Kenneth Mubu, said the Department of Public Works (DPW) is sometimes referred to “as the Department of Nkandla or the Department of Public Jokes”.

He added that the Auditor-General’s report for 2012/2013 ...

Public Works Department stable, but much more work to do says Minister

Yesterday's meeting with the Select Committee on Economic and Business Development saw the Department of Public Works (DPW) brief MPs on its Strategic Plan and Annual Performance Plan. However, the discussion between the Committee and the DPW revealed more than just the targets and budget expenditure for the year ahead. ...

Who are SALGA and what do they do?

How much do you really know about the South Africa Local Government Association (SALGA)? If their social media platforms are anything to go by - the @SALGA_Gov Twitter account only has 375 followers and they have just 415 likes on their Facebook page - the public need to be better ...

ISS and SAPU on SAPS and the latest crime stats

On Tuesday, the Portfolio Committee on Police heard input from the Institute for Security Studies (ISS) and the South African Policing Union (SAPU) on the South African Police Service’s budget and Annual Performance Plan for the year. Before hearing from their guests, Committee Researcher Ivan Kinnes did a brief presentation ...

Justice and Correctional Services Committee: Heavy workload ahead

In Parliament today a number of the National Assembly’s Portfolio Committees (PCs) met to elect their Chairpersons. As one of the few committees to have been clustered in the Fifth Parliament, People’s Assembly went along to the Justice and Correctional Services PC meeting.

Soon after being elected unopposed to the ...

SONA Debates: ANC and DA go head-to-head

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 ...

SONA: What the President’s speech failed to address

President Jacob Zuma delivered his State of the Nation Address (SONA) in the National Assembly on Tuesday evening, 17 June 2014. People’s Assembly has already reported on the main themes of the Presidents speech including commentary from opposition MPs. A lot has been written about Zuma’s comments on the economy ...

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. ...