South Africa: State Capture Probe At Last Shows Signs of Getting Underway

Occasionally hidden in the many long pages of Parliament's Announcements, Tablings and Committee Reports (ATCs), a precious nugget of information may be found. For example, here is… Read more »

Sudan: Tangled Tale of Why South Africa Failed to Arrest Bashir

The Minister of Justice and Correctional Services explained to the Committee last week exactly why South Africa had let loose Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, in defiance of a… Read more »

South Africa: Ramaphosa Address At Presidency Budget Vote Debate

It is nearly 100 days since we set out as a nation on a new path of renewal and revival. It is nearly 100 days since we decided, together, to make a clear and decisive break with… Read more »

South Africa: Eskom - Victim or Perpetrator?

The Standing Committee on Public Accounts (SCOPA) has now held three meetings on the mounting debt facing Eskom. Read more »

South Africa: NCOP Charged With Mandate of Three-Tiered Governance

The parliamentary precinct in Cape Town couldn't be further away from the hurly burly of provincial government, and that has little to do with distance measured in kilometres.… Read more »

South Africa: Public Protector Blames All On Lack of Funds, Again

Public Protector (PP) Busisiwe Mkhwebane appeared to have one overriding concern when she appeared before Parliament's Justice and Correctional Services Committee to present her… Read more »

South Africa: Budget - Civil Society Demands Progressive Taxation

Most commentators seemed fairly resigned to switch to the more regressive tax policy announced in this year's Budget Speech, saying it's the only way to fill the empty coffers. But… Read more »

South Africa: Amabhungane Warns New Bill Risks Repeating Errors of Apartheid Law

A submission to Parliament by the amaBhungane Centre for Investigative Journalism on the proposed Critical Infrastructure Bill has been welcomed for expressly raising the omission… Read more »

South Africa: What Does Change in Presidency Mean for Opposition?

The DA and EFF gained a lot from the disaster that was Zuma. Both made impressive gains at the polls in recent years with the result that electoral politics, and Parliament, have… Read more »

South Africa: After Biding His Time, CR Shows How Politics Is Done

CR's strategy is to pull diverse actors into robust delivery processes, amid political trade-offs and consensus. It may be new to SA politics, but it's what he has been doing all… Read more »

South Africa: Parliament Hears About 'Atrocious' Train Service

"My employer used to phone Metrorail to find out if the trains were late, but went ahead to fire me," says Warren Johnson, a resident of Elsies River in Cape Town. Read more »

South Africa: Can Parliament Impeach Zuma?

Amid the hype about whether or not Zuma will jump or be pushed, it is worth considering the prospect of impeachment and reminding ourselves that there is another option in reserve. Read more »

South Africa: Where Are We Up to With the State Capture Inquiry(ies)?

Parliament's state capture inquiry resumed on the first days of the 2018 session, but it all seems rather pointless. Even though an official Commission of Inquiry has been… Read more »

South Africa: Parliament's 2017 Report Card, According to Civil Society

2017 was a bumper year of parliamentary business, court battles, internal squabbles, jousting, brinkmanship, attempts to remove the President from office, dissolve Parliament and… Read more »

South Africa: Parliament's 2017 Report Card, According to Parliament

Here's Parliament's own report for the year. It's left out all the messy bits, like mass walkouts by MPs, repeated calls for "order" in the House, Ministers ignoring requests to… Read more »

South Africa: Illicit Contracts With Prasa Kept Under Wraps By Treasury

Up to R2.5-billion have been lost in illicit contracts with the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa) which National Treasury has kept under wraps for almost a year. Read more »

South Africa: 'One of Us Is Lying' - Says Lynne Brown

Public Enterprises Minister Lynne Brown looks as if she is walking the path to the end of her political career. Read more »

South Africa: Committee Questions Legality of Gigaba's SAA Bailout

The Chairperson of the Standing Committee on Finance, Yunus Carrim, wants the Auditor General to decide on the legality of the recent South African Airways (SAA) bailout. Read more »

South Africa: Parliament Fires Security Head On 'Trumped Up' Charges

Parliament on Tuesday fired its head of protection services, Zelda Holtzman, on "trumped up" charges following her exposure of the abuse of power by the secretary of Parliament. Read more »

South Africa: Govt Anti-Corruption Unit Takes Years to Probe Cases

The Special Investigating Unit (SIU) told Parliament that the average time it takes to resolve an investigation into government graft is three to four years. Read more »

South Africa: Where's the Strategy in Police's Anti-Gangsterism Strategy?

SAPS' second attempt to present a strategy to the Portfolio Committee on Police on how it aims to tackle the scourge of gangsterism seemed to deliver even less than the first. Read more »

South Africa: Poverty Hits Children Hard

StatsSA's recent shocking revelations about the plight of the poorest don't reflect the cost to children, which is even greater than the stats suggest, a Minister's question… Read more »