Mr Manuel De Freitas (DA)

defreitas

What is your political background? I have been involved in politics for over 20 years. I got involved as a volunteer for the Democratic Party (DP) leading up to the 1994 elections. In 1995 when the first democratic local government elections were to take place, the DP branch I belonged ...

Mr Cameron Mackenzie (DA)

C-Mack

What is your political background? What drew you to your specific party? Politics has always been part of my life for as long as I can remember: from choosing a part in a school play, being elected as the grade representative on the Students Representative Council (SRC) in high school ...

Mr Khethamabala Sithole (IFP)

K-Sit

What is your Political background? I joined the Inkhata Freedom Party (IFP) in 1979 when I was still in school. The primary focus of teachers then was teaching students about the politics of the country at the time. I have been in different structures in the IFP since 2011 and ...

Infographic: SAPS Hotspots Interventions

The South African Police Service (SAPS) briefed the Portfolio Committee on Police on current interventions made in ‘hotspots’ around the country. SAPS adopted an integrated policing approach to manage public protests that led to civil unrest. Operations are initiated on the basis of National Threat Assessments conducted by intelligence structures. ...

The Week Ahead: Parliament’s budget vote in the spotlight

The Legislature's budget vote, scheduled for Thursday, is the main plenary event this week. In their speeches, the presiding officers will underscore the role of Parliament in our democracy, talk about the challenges facing the institution, highlight a few successes, outline the allocation for each programme and give some detail ...

The Week Ahead: Drama as New Term Kicks off

Parliament resumes this week after a two-week constituency period. The second term will run for 8 weeks and its culmination will trigger several weeks of campaigning ahead of the municipal elections.

The programme is packed with activities. Some of the highlights include committee, oversight and legislative work; oral questions to ...

Call to action: Hands off our grants (HOOG)

HOOG

5 things MPs discussed about young people during the third term

By Sheilan Clarke

There were many interesting events in parliament over the past few months. From discussions about military conscription to Stellenbosch University’s appearance in parliament, here are five youth-related highlights from parliament’s third term.

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Sending SA’s youth to the army

Earlier this year the presidency revealed they were discussing ...

The Week Ahead: Most of the parliamentary action is in the committee corridor

There's a humdrum flavour to this week's parliamentary business in the National Assembly chamber - with MPs finishing off legislation, processing assorted statutory instruments and reports, making statements and discussing matters of public importance.

The major highlight will be the question session involving the Deputy President and Ministers in the ...

Parliamentary oversight: Few consequences

By Troye Lund

PUBLIC protector Thuli Madonsela’s revelations of widespread corruption, nepotism and maladministration at the Passenger Rail Agency of SA (Prasa) did not come as a surprise to members of parliament who are charged with overseeing the state entity.

In 2013 the auditor-general (AG) was warning MPs on parliamentary ...