Mps

SONA Debate, Day 1: Opposition MPs open Nkandla(flood)gate

The first day of the two-day State of the Nation Address (SONA) debate saw opposition MPs pour scorn on Nkandlagate. Addressing the National Assembly on Tuesday 18 February, Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly, Lindiwe Mazibuko, said "I want to use this opportunity to send a very clear ...

Education Head responds to SADTU’s ‘declaration of war’

As well as MPs, Tuesday 18 February’s Basic Education Portfolio Committee meeting was attended by Minister Angie Motshegka and other members of her department including recently re-instated Director-General (DG) Bobby Soobrayan – this after a disciplinary process cleared him of financial mismanagement and other wrong doing as alleged by the ...

The week ahead

The main source of parliamentary action this week will be in the National Assembly chamber as MPs debate the President’s State of the Nation Address. Members of Parliament will be afforded an opportunity to state their views on Tuesday and Wednesday and the President will get his turn to ...

Exploring MPs’ Interests

One of the interesting datasets that the People’s Assembly collates is the register of members interests - the annual declaration by Members of Parliament of their interests including shares in companies, gifts they have received (with a value in excess of R1 500), and companies of which they are directors. ...

Launching the People’s Assembly

After months of development, the People’s Assembly went live last week just prior to the 2014 State of the Nation Address. The site draws on eleven (and counting) sources of information to connect people with the work of their representatives.

Here we’ll run through a few of the key features ...

Shrinking the accountability deficit

By Christi van der Westhuizen__

This year South Africans celebrate the 20-year anniversary of our democratic parliament. With national and provincial elections approaching, political parties are finalising the lists of candidates selected to represent South Africans. It is an opportune moment to reflect on the efficacy of public representation ...

MyVoteCounts

MVC

MyVoteCounts (MVC), launched almost two years ago, is a dynamic campaign aimed at improving the accountability, transparency and inclusiveness of elections and politics in South Africa in general.

The campaign, formed by citizens and members of civil society organisations, aims to do this in two ways:

• By advocating for ...

Newhoudt-Druchen on being a deaf MP in Parliament

With the Madiba memorial fake sign language fiasco still fresh in our memories, People’s Assembly was struck by the rapport and fluidity with which South Africa’s first and only deaf MP, Wilma Newhoudt-Druchen, and her interpreters communicated complex and technical political terms in a recent Communications Portfolio Committee meeting.

During ...

Rental Housing Amendment Bill: tussle between Parliament and Department

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 ...

SABC gets a roasting from Communications Portfolio Committee opposition MPs

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 ...