The Week Ahead: All about the budget and some legislating

Finance Minister Nhlanhla Nene's budget speech on Wednesday will dominate the headlines this week. The Minister has a tough job to do as he seeks to address significant social challenges and reassure investors about the country’s growth prospects.

During his 2014 Medium Term Budget Policy Statement Speech, the Minister ...

Read President Jacob Zuma's 2015 State of the Nation speech here:

State of the Nation Address by His Excellency Jacob G Zuma, President of the Republic of South Africa on the occasion of the Joint Sitting Of Parliament Cape Town,

The Speaker of the National Assembly, The Chairperson of the National Council of Provinces, Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly and ...

The Week Ahead: End of a Raucous and tumultuous year

South Africans will have to find another way to entertain themselves when Parliament ends this week. The legislature has been the source of regular drama, comedy and even bloody action since the start of the fifth Parliament. Citizens have been lapping up all the action with Parliament frequently trending on ...

The Week Ahead: Infrastructure theft, the Dalai Lama, and the abuse of older persons

President Zuma’s annual address to the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) is expected to steal the limelight this week. The theme for this year’s event is “Celebrating 20 years of a Democratic Parliament – together moving the NCOP forward as a vanguard of the interests of provinces”. Another story ...

Equal Education members rally against educational inequality

EE: education inequality

Over 2000 Equal Education (EE) members will be marching to the Western Cape Provincial Legislature on Friday 31 October, where they will hold a rally against educational inequality. Speeches describing a wide range of challenges facing schools will be made by “Equalisers” from across the Cape Peninsula, and ...

Minister of Finance Medium Term Budget Policy Statement

Medium Term Budget Policy Statement Speech 2014

By Minister of Finance, Nhlanhla Nene

Honourable Speaker Mister President Deputy President Cabinet Colleagues and Deputy Ministers Governor and Governor-Designate of the Reserve Bank MECs of Finance Honourable Members Fellow South Africans

It is my privilege to present the 2014 Medium Term Budget ...

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 ...

Budget Vote Debates address children’s issues

Children featured in both the Budget Vote 15: Basic Education yesterday, and Vote 19: Social Development today. Peoples Assembly took at look at what MPs said about their rights and the services young people were receiving.

Yesterday, Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga reported that her Department’s overall budget for 2014/15 ...

Transport Department falls short of R127.4 billion needed to fix SA roads

In both the Transport Portfolio Committee meeting on Tuesday and an Economic and Business Development Select Committee briefing on Wednesday, the Department of Transport told MPs that the cost of repairing South Africa’s roads is estimated to be R149 billion.

Acting Director-General of the Transport Department, Mawethu Vilana, said the ...

SONA word cloud: Priorities that stood out

People’s Assembly has created two word clouds, one for the 2009-2013 State of the Nation Addresses (SONAs) and another for the most recent SONA, which focused on priorities for President Jacob Zuma’s second term. Word clouds are images that consist of words, in which the size of each word denotes ...