South Africa: SA Needs a Functioning Parliamentary Budget Office - Now's the Time to Fix It

South Africa's Parliamentary Budget Office (PBO) is in complete disarray according to SEÁN MFUNDZA MULLER who once worked there. In the 10 years since it was established by… Read more »

South Africa: SA's New Presidential Advisory Unit. Will It Improve Policy?

South Africa's President Cyril Ramaphosa is establishing a unit in the presidency which he hopes will improve policy development and coordination. This is an important initiative… Read more »

South Africa: Community Land Rights Have to Co-Exist With Mineral Rights

The troublesome contest between surface versus mineral rights lies at the very heart of the complex issues raised in the Portfolio Committee on Mineral Resources' report on the… Read more »

South Africa: Minister Told to Put Community Rights Above Demands of Mining Companies

The communities of Matzikama municipality in the northernmost reaches of South Africa's west coast held a verbal sparring match with Mining Minister Gwede Mantashe last week over… Read more »

South Africa: Parliament Must Develop "Holistic" Approach to Economics

South Africa lacks a nationally coherent national economic policy because from the starting point, at parliament, legislators work in silos and fail to talk to each other. This was… Read more »

South Africa: Briefs That Show It All - President Risks Cramp in His Writing Hand

Our president has been hard at work at parliament from long before its official opening, speedily assenting to as many Bills as he can before the fifth democratic parliament closes… Read more »

South Africa: The New Dawn Must Be a New Deal

The New Dawn cannot be a continuation of the same failed macro-economic policies with a few adjustments, as suggested by the tone and narrative emerging from the processes being… Read more »

South Africa: Parliament Disgraces Itself Over Suicide Inquiry

The family of Lennox Garane, the parliamentary manager who committed suicide last year as a protest against abuse and bullying within parliament's administration by senior staff,… Read more »

South Africa: There May Be a Set of New Rules to Learn Post 2019

As the ANC stumbles towards the 2019 poll, it looks like there is a very real prospect that it may lose the majority in at least one province and see it shrink even at national… Read more »

South Africa: Could a Coalition Govt Rule South Africa?

Last week South Africa watched a new form of political warfare being played out in our Metropolitan Councils (metros), and it might just prove to be an early preview of things to… Read more »

South Africa: High Spending On Education Grants, Yet Delivery Still Well Below Target

Despite high levels of spending of the government's Education Infrastructure Grant (EIG), dangerous pit latrines, crumbling mud classrooms and shortages of desks, chairs and other… Read more »

South Africa: Roots of State Capture Lie in 20 Years of Failure to Enforce Party Funding Transparency

In her new book, Turning and Turning: Exploring the complexities of South Africa's democracy, political analyst Judith February reminds us that the Institute for Democracy in South… Read more »

South Africa: Where Is Parliament When You Need It Most?

The fifth democratic Parliament, which began in 2014 and will end with next year's election, has so far made very little progress so far in producing legislation in pursuit of… Read more »

South Africa: Parliament Ambivalent in Response to World Bank

The recently released World Bank Group Diagnostic Report on South Africa, "An Incomplete Transition: Overcoming the Legacy of Exclusion in South Africa," has in many ways shifted… Read more »

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 »