On Tuesday, 20 September 2016, the Portfolio Committee on Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries heard briefings during the stakeholder engagement on the impact of drought and the implementation of the drought response plan. AgriSA said the South African agricultural sector has a turnover of R227 billion per and represents 2.5% of ...

The constituency period beckons, with MPs due to depart at the end of the week and return to Parliament on 11 October 2016. But a fair amount of heavy-duty business will be done before they go.

With nothing scheduled in the NA chamber, the committee corridor will be the main ...

As part of the colloquium on the preparations for the CITES COP17 Conference in South Africa, various inputs were made on the successes, challenges and pitfalls in anti-rhino poaching strategies on 13 September 2016.

According to Dr Sam Ferreira, SANParks Large Mammal Ecologist, South Africa is home to 36% of ...

This week is Global Legislative Open Week (GLOW). In view of this, People's Assembly decided to review how open and transparent our provincial legislatures are.

The Constitution enjoins the legislatures to facilitate public participation in the law-making process, conduct their business in an open manner and to take reasonable measures ...

The President's oral question session is the high point of the parliamentary week. Question Time occurs in both the National Assembly and the NCOP and is one of the ways Parliament scrutinises the work of the executive. The President is required to answers questions of national or international importance once ...

The Department of Justice and Correctional Services is reviewing the minimum age of criminal capacity, with a view to raising it.

In a briefing to a joint meeting of the Portfolio Committee on Justice and Correctional Services and Select Committee on Education and Recreation, the Department said that the current ...

On Friday 2 September 2016 the South African Police Services (SAPS) briefed the Portfolio Committee on Police on the 2015/16 National Crime Statistics.

According to SAPS, significant strides have been made in efforts to reduce all categories of serious crime except contact crimes. Contact crimes refer to those "crimes where ...

There's both high policy and low politics on display in the main chambers this week, with appearances by the deputy president and ministers in the economic cluster (combining both of the above, no doubt).

Beyond this, there is plenty of scope for party battles when lawmakers debate a number of ...

In its meetings since June 2016, the Ad Hoc Committee on the Appointment of the Public Protector has now selected the final 5 candidates to be considered. The Chairperson attributed the unprecedented number of nominations (73) to the level of public awareness and participation. Of those nominations, 59 candidates accepted ...

It's a busy week in the main chambers and committee corridor. Everything from Ministerial question time, to debates of public importance, to statutory appointments, to legislative business, to motions and members' statements dominate the plenary agenda. Beyond this, Parliament has scheduled a joint sitting on Thursday to mark Women's Day. ...