26th South African Parliament | |||||
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Overview | |||||
Jurisdiction | South Africa | ||||
Meeting place | Cape Town | ||||
Term | 21 May 2014 – 21 May 2019 | ||||
National Assembly of South Africa | |||||
Composition of the National Assembly | |||||
Members | 400 | ||||
Speaker of the National Assembly of South Africa | Baleka Mbete | ||||
Leader of the Opposition | Mmusi Maimane | ||||
Presiding Officers | Mmatlala Boroto, Cedric Frolick, Thoko Didiza | ||||
National Council of Provinces | |||||
Members | 90 | ||||
Chairperson | Thandi Modise | ||||
Deputy Chairperson | Raseriti Tau | ||||
Leader of the Opposition | Cathlene Labuschagne |
The 26th South African Parliament was the fifth Parliament of South Africa to convene since the introduction of non-racial government in South Africa in 1994. It was elected in the general election of 7 May 2014 and consists of the National Assembly and the National Council of Provinces. The National Assembly contains 400 members, while the National Council of Provinces contains 90 members. Members of Parliament were sworn in on 21 May 2014. [1] The 26th parliament first convened on 21 May 2014 to elect Jacob Zuma as the fifth democratically elected President of South Africa. [2] It was formally opened by president Zuma's State of the Nation Address in a joint sitting on 17 June 2014. [3]
13 Different political parties are represented in this parliament. [4] [5] The majority party in the 25th parliament, the African National Congress (ANC) retained its majority, although it was reduced to 249 (62%) seats, down from 264 seats out of 400 (66%), while the Democratic Alliance (DA) increased its lead of the opposition, taking 89 (22.23%) seats, up from 67 seats (16.75%) in the National Assembly of the 25th parliament. The Speaker of the National Assembly, Baleka Mbete and Chairperson of the National Council of Provinces, Thandi Modise, both of the ANC, were elected on 21 May 2014 by members of parliament. [6] [7] The presiding officers of parliament, Mmatlala Boroto, Cedric Frolick and Thoko Didiza were elected on 18 June 2014. [8]
Mmusi Maimane was elected parliamentary Leader of the Opposition in a DA election in May 2014. [9]
Terms of the Parliament of South Africa |
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Party | Delegate type | Province | Total | ||||||||||
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EC | FS | G | KZN | L | M | NW | NC | WC | |||||
African National Congress | Permanent | 4 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 33 | 60 | |
Special | 3 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 27 | |||
Democratic Alliance | Permanent | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 13 | 20 | |
Special | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 7 | |||||||
Economic Freedom Fighters | Permanent | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 7 | ||||
Special | 1 | 1 | |||||||||||
Inkatha Freedom Party | Permanent | 1 | 1 | ||||||||||
National Freedom Party | Special | 1 | 1 | ||||||||||
United Democratic Movement | Permanent | 1 | 1 | ||||||||||
Total | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 90 |
On 13 November 2014, MPs were involved in a physical altercation with police when EFF MP Ngwanamakwetle Mashabela refused to leave the podium after being instructed to when she called President Jacob Zuma a thief. Several DA and EFF MPs were shoved and pushed when trying to intervene with police in order to support Mashabela. DA chief whip John Steenhuisen said of the incident: “Four of my [DA] members, two of them women, have been assaulted by police. They are Terri Stander, Gordon Mackay, Denise Robinson and Dean Macpherson.” [10]
On 12 February 2015, at a joint-sitting for this parliament's 2nd State of the Nation Address, violence broke out after the parliamentary security force was called into the chamber by the speaker of parliament to remove the EFF, who were questioning president Jacob Zuma on his Nkandla property during his address. Following the ejection of the EFF, the DA requested clarification on whether members of the South African Police Service entered the parliamentary chamber, which they claimed was a violation of the constitution. After the speaker of parliament told the DA that it was unclear who were and were not members of the police, all the DA MPs walked out of the sitting. [11]
Baleka Mbete is a South African politician who was the Deputy President of South Africa from September 2008 to May 2009. She was also the Speaker of the National Assembly for two non-consecutive terms from 2004 to 2008 and from 2014 to 2019. She also served as Deputy Speaker between 1996 and 2004. A member of the African National Congress (ANC), she was first elected to the National Assembly in 1994 and stepped down from her seat in 2019.
Mmusi Aloysias Maimane is a South African politician, businessman, and leader of Build One South Africa, a political party. Maimane is also the former Leader of South Africa's opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) political party from 10 May 2015 to 23 October 2019, and the former Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly of South Africa from 29 May 2014 to 24 October 2019. He became the first black South African to lead the DA.
Thandi Ruth Modise is a South African politician who served as the Minister of Defence and Military Veterans from 2021 to 2024. She was previously the Premier of the North West from 2010 to 2014, Chairperson of the National Council of Provinces from 2014 to 2019, and Speaker of the National Assembly from 2019 to 2021.
Economic Freedom Fighters v Speaker of the National Assembly and Others; Democratic Alliance v Speaker of the National Assembly and Others [2016] ZACC 11 is an important judgment of the Constitutional Court of South Africa which finds that President Jacob Zuma breached the South African Constitution by failing to implement the recommendations in the Public Protector's Nkandla report.
General elections were held in South Africa on 8 May 2019 to elect a new President, National Assembly and provincial legislatures in each province. These were the sixth elections held since the end of apartheid in 1994 and determined who would become the next President of South Africa.
The following lists events that happened during 2017 in South Africa.
A presidential election was held in the National Assembly in South Africa on 15 February 2018 following the resignation of Jacob Zuma on 14 February. Acting president Cyril Ramaphosa of the ruling African National Congress won the election unopposed due to no other party nominating a candidate. Ramaphosa was sworn in by Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng at 5pm, 15 February 2018.
The Shadow Cabinet of Mmusi Maimane was formed on 5 June 2014 in South Africa following his election as Parliamentary Leader of the Democratic Alliance and Leader of the Opposition on 29 May 2014. The Democratic Alliance parliamentary caucus also elected other caucus leadership. John Steenhuisen was elected Chief Whip with Anchen Dreyer as Caucus Chairperson. These elections all occurred following the 2014 general elections, in which the Democratic Alliance retained its post as the Official Opposition in the National Assembly of South Africa.
The 27th South African Parliament was the sixth Parliament of South Africa to convene since the introduction of non-racial government in South Africa in 1994. It was elected in the general election of 8 May 2019 and consists of the National Assembly and the National Council of Provinces. The National Assembly contains 400 members, while the National Council of Provinces contains 90 members. It was formally opened by President Ramaphosa's State of the Nation Address in a joint sitting on 20 June 2019.
Dirk Jan Stubbe is a South African politician who served as a Member of the National Assembly for the Democratic Alliance from September 2010 to May 2019 and again from September 2020 until May 2024. Prior to his tenure in the National Assembly, Stubbe was a Member of the Northern Cape Provincial Legislature.
Ngwanamakwetle Reneiloe Mashabela is a South African politician from the Economic Freedom Fighters party. She has been a Member of Parliament (MP) in the National Assembly of South Africa since May 2014. Mashabela is a member of the central command team of the EFF.
Thandeka Moloko Mbabama is a South African politician of the Democratic Alliance who served as a Member of the National Assembly of South Africa from November 2016 until May 2024. Within the DA's Shadow Cabinet, she was Shadow Deputy Minister of Rural Development and Land Reform from January 2017 until June 2019 and Shadow Deputy Minister of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development between June 2019 and May 2024.
Bridget Staff Masango is a South African Democratic Alliance politician from Gauteng who has been a Member of the National Assembly since October 2015. Within the DA's Shadow Cabinet, she served as Shadow Minister of Social Development from October 2015 until June 2024. From May 2014 to October 2015, Masango served as a permanent delegate to the National Council of Provinces.
Denis Joseph is a South African politician from the Western Cape. A member of the Democratic Alliance (DA), he was elected as a permanent delegate to the National Council of Provinces in 2011. He served in the NCOP until his election to the Western Cape Provincial Parliament in 2014. After the 2019 election, Joseph returned to Parliament to serve as an MP in the National Assembly until 2024.
Michael Bagraim is a South African politician and labour lawyer. A member of the Democratic Alliance, he was elected to the National Assembly in 2014. He was then appointed Shadow Deputy Minister of Labour. In 2017, Bagraim was promoted to Shadow Minister of Labour. After the 2019 election, he was made Shadow Deputy Minister of Labour and Employment.
Darren Bergman is a South African politician who has been a Member of the National Assembly of South Africa for Democratic Alliance since 2014. Within the DA Shadow Cabinet, he was Shadow Deputy Minister of Sport and Recreation between 2014 and 2019, Shadow Minister of International Relations and Cooperation between 2019 and 2023 and Shadow Deputy Minister of Trade, Industry and Competition between 2023 and 2024.
Hendrik Christiaan Crafford Krüger is a South African politician who has been a Member of the National Assembly of South Africa since 2014, representing the Democratic Alliance.
Douglas Harvey Monro Gibson is a South African retired attorney, politician and diplomat who served as South Africa's ambassador to Thailand between 2008 and 2012. Previously, he had served as chief whip of the opposition from 1999 to 2007, as chairperson of the federal council of the Democratic Party between 1997 and 2000, and as a Member of the National Assembly of South Africa between 1994 and 2008.
Masefako Clarah Dikgale is a South African politician who was a Member of the National Assembly of South Africa from 2019 to 2023. Prior to serving in the National Assembly, she served as a permanent delegate to the National Council of Provinces from Limpopo from 2009 to 2019. Dikgale is a member of the African National Congress.