Free and fair elections; we shout it and demand it, but in the end, what does it really mean? People’s Assembly attended a round table hosted by The Catholic Parliamentary Liaison Office and the Hans Seidel Foundation, where representatives of the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) and Media Monitoring Africa (MMA) ...

President Jacob Zuma’s seventh State of the Nation Address (SONA) last night focused on the economy and job creation, and labour relations, in particular in the mining sector and addressing challenges in local government.

Early on in his speech, Zuma stated, “As we enter the second phase of our transition ...

At a seminar co-hosted by the Budget Expenditure Monitoring Forum (BEMF), Section 27 and Alternative Information and Development Centre (AIDC) yesterday, Daygan Eager from the Rural Health Advocacy Project (RHAP) did a presentation on what the recent budget tells us about progress on National Health Insurance (NHI).

Eager said that ...

On Thursday, 22 May, Budget Expenditure Monitoring Forum (BEMF), Section 27 and Alternative Information and Development Centre (AIDC) hosted a Budget Justice Seminar. At the Seminar, Isobel Frye from the Studies in Poverty and Inequality Institute presented an interesting study on social grants in the 2014 budget and the forgotten ...

The National Council of Provinces (NCOP) passed fifteen bills in just two days this week (26 and 27 March), in a rush before the close of Parliament’s last session. Twelve of the bills were sent to the President for assent. Minor amendments were made to only three bills by the ...

Eight Committees in Parliament's Second House met today to vote on final mandates for legislation that the Fourth Democratic Parliament is determined to complete - as its last day fast approaches. Five provinces need to vote in favour of a bill in order for it to pass. Many of these ...

Today, the Select Committee on Appropriations received a post-budget presentation from the Parliamentary Budget Office (PBO), focusing on various factors affecting revenue and expenditure as well as the country’s economic growth, which is predicted to be quite low over the next three years. The question also arose as to whether ...

On Wednesday, 26 February, Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan tabled the Budget in Parliament. The national budget is essentially the announcement of government’s estimated spending (dividing state coffers between the three ties of the state), borrowing and tax plans for the forthcoming three years.

Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan has a word ...

The Portfolio Committee on Agriculture, Forestry And Fisheries hosted a two-day workshop on Food Security and Safety with the Portfolio Committees of Health and Social Development and the Select Committee on Land and Mineral Resources. The committees engaged with food security and safety experts to examine what structures are in ...