On 29 September 2015, the Dullah Omar Institute held a roundtable discussion that explored whether working with South African Legislatures is still a valuable investment for civil society. The discussion, “ South Africa’s Legislatures in 2015: What’ the point?” used research done on public participation trends for the portfolio committees ...
By Judith February
President Jacob Zuma comes to Parliament to answer oral questions again on Thursday. Last week’s budget vote debates left much to be desired as MPs seemed more intent on name-calling than debating the challenges facing SA.
Despite mounting evidence to the contrary, Speaker of Parliament Baleka Mbete ...
The Institute for Justice and Reconciliation's (IJR) Ashley Kriel Youth Leadership Development project in collaboration with the Joseph & Evelyn Lowery Institute for Justice and Human Rights (JELI) in Atlanta, Georgia, have convened and hosted a cross-cultural dialogue project titled Crafting Change Agents. This program served as a cross-cultural ...
Parliament resumes this week after a two-week constituency period. The second term will run for eleven weeks and the programme is packed with activities. Some of the highlights include committee, oversight and legislative work; oral questions to the President and the Executive; budget vote debates and the National Council of ...
MPs will be relieved that the grueling budget vote schedule will conclude this week. This process usually takes 2-3 months but was compressed into 4 weeks because of the elections. It started with the training of MPs on the processing of the budget votes and was followed by portfolio committees ...
The Select Committee on Appropriations met yesterday to receive presentations from the Committee support staff on what duties NCOP MPs are expected to carry out over their term, and how the support staff will assist them. MPs were also briefed on the budget cycle, which brought up a few concerns ...
Since the start of this election year, accusations have been made about important pieces of legislation being pushed or “bulldozed” through Parliament, specifically pointing fingers at the ruling party who has been accused of rushing through bills to garner more support from the public.
Some of the concerns were that ...
By Christi van der Westhuizen__
This year South Africans celebrate the 20-year anniversary of our democratic parliament. With national and provincial elections approaching, political parties are finalising the lists of candidates selected to represent South Africans. It is an opportune moment to reflect on the efficacy of public representation ...
DENE SMUTS, has been a Member of Parliament for over two decades. She was born in the Free State and is the daughter of a judge. She joined the realm of politics in 1989 and has served the Groote Schuur and Athlone constituencies.
Political background: I have been an ...