NHI Timeline: Key dates and events

The analyses and debates about the National Health Insurance (NHI) Bill rage on following its introduction to Parliament early August. The tabling of the Bill was long in coming as the mooting of ideas to reform healthcare financing in South Africa are not new and date as far back as ...

Department of Higher Education, Science and Technology 2019/20 Priorities

In December 2017, President Jacob Zuma announced that government will subsidise free higher education for poor and working class students.

This statement followed months of pressure and protests by the #FeesMustFall movement that demanded government stop the increase in tuition fees and increase its funding of universities.

Since the start ...

Department of Women, Youth & Persons with Disbailities Priorities for 2019/20

On the 9th of July 2019, the Minister in the Presidency for Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities, Ms Maite Nkoana-Mashabane, delivered the 2019 Budget Vote speech which is meant to give the public an indication of what the departments budget for the year is and highlight what the key ...

First Term Review: Sixth Parliament

Parliament’s first term ended last week. According to the programme, the term was 11 weeks but the main thrust of the work was compressed into the final 5 weeks of the quarter.

A lot was done in this first term: new parliamentary leadership was elected, the second State of the ...

Remembering Nelson Mandela

Today we commemorate our former President Nelson Mandela who served his term from 1994 to 1999. As we ponder on the past two weeks budget vote speeches delivered by the Ministers and their Deputies, what better way to assess our journey as a country than to recall where we come ...

6th Parliament: Turnover, Youth & Gender

Becoming an MP can be a complex and difficult journey. In many respects, the job is viewed as one which requires experience and therefore suited to older people. Meanwhile, women face all sorts of hurdles when running for elected office. This includes discrimination, patriarchy, violence and the ever present glass ...

New Ramaphosa Cabinet: 2019

The President has announced his Executive which will serve the country’s Sixth Administration. Let’s take a look at some of the changes made.

The Cabinet is made up of the President, Deputy President and Ministers. The Deputy President is Mr David Mabuza. As per his 2018 State of the Nation ...

Provincial Legislatures, Speakers & Premiers

Last week, Wednesday 22 May 2019, Members of the Provincial Legislatures (MPLs) were sworn in. Presided over by the Judge Presidents for each province, the nine provincial legislatures also elected the Premiers of the province and Speakers and Deputy Speakers of the legislatures. The Premiers were inaugurated on 27 May ...

Elections 2019

The hour is almost upon us – the day when South Africans embark on go to the polling stations to exercise arguably the most fundamental democratic right, that of voting. There are however many who are not entirely knowledgeable of the electoral system employed in SA – we thought it ...

Provincial Budgets: 2019

SA's national budget was tabled in Parliament on 20 February 2019 - what follows this process is the tabling of provincial budgets in each of the nine provincial legislatures. Provincial budgets are as important as the national one - the budget sets out how the provinces intend spending public funds ...