27th South African Parliament

The 27th South African Parliament is 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.[1]

27th South African Parliament
Houses of Parliament in Cape Town, South Africa
Overview
JurisdictionSouth Africa
Meeting placeCape Town
Term22 May 2019 (2019-05-22)–present
National Assembly of South Africa
Members400
SpeakerThandi Modise
Deputy SpeakerSolomon Lechesa Tsenoli
Leader of the OppositionJohn Steenhuisen
National Council of Provinces
Members90
ChairpersonAmos Masondo
Deputy ChairpersonSylvia Lucas
Leader of the OppositionCathlene Labuschagne
Terms of the
Parliament of South Africa
  • 1st
  • 2nd
  • 3rd
  • 4th
  • 5th
  • 6th
  • 7th
  • 8th
  • 9th
  • 10th
  • 11th
  • 12th
  • 13th
  • 14th
  • 15th
  • 16th
  • 17th
  • 18th
  • 19th
  • 20th
  • 21st
  • 22nd
  • 23rd
  • 24th
  • 25th
  • 26th
  • 27th

Members of Parliament were sworn in on 22 May 2019.[2] The 27th Parliament first convened on 22 May 2019 to re-elect Cyril Ramaphosa as President of South Africa.[3]

Fourteen different political parties are represented in this parliament. The majority party in the 26th Parliament, the African National Congress (ANC) retained its majority, although it was reduced to 230 (57.50%) seats, down from the 249 seats out of 400 (62.25%) it had it in the previous Parliament, while the official opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) declined from 89 seats (22.25%) in the 26th Parliament to only 84 seats (21%) in the 27th Parliament. Former National Council of Provinces Chairperson Thandi Modise was elected Speaker of the National Assembly, while Solomon Lechesa Tsenoli retained his post as Deputy Speaker. Pemmy Majodina was appointed Chief Whip of the ANC caucus.

The following day, 23 May 2019, the National Council of Provinces reconvened to elect Amos Masondo as the Chairperson, and Sylvia Lucas as the Deputy Chairperson. Seiso Mohai remained Chief Whip of the Majority Party.[4][5]

Background
New Members of Parliament from fourteen political parties were sworn in by Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng on 22 May 2019

Parliament sits in Cape Town, even though the seat of government is in Pretoria. Chapter 4 of the Constitution of South Africa defines the structure of Parliament, the legislative branch of the national government. Parliament consists of two houses, the National Assembly (the lower house), which is directly elected by voters, and the National Council of Provinces (the upper house), which is elected by each respective provincial legislature.[6]

The National Assembly reconvened on 22 May 2019, while the National Council of Provinces reconvened on the following day, 23 May 2019. According to the Constitution, both Houses of Parliament must be established within fourteen days after the Independent Electoral Commission declared the official election results.[7][8]

Chief Justice Mogoeng presided over the swearing-in of MPs and the election of the new Speaker of the National Assembly. Former NCOP Chairperson Thandi Modise defeated the Democratic Alliance's candidate Richard Majola by a margin of 250 votes to only 83 votes for Majola. Modise presided over the Deputy Speaker’s election. Incumbent Deputy Speaker Solomon Lechesa Tsenoli of the ANC was re-elected unopposed.[9]

The Chief Justice then presided over the election of the President. Incumbent President Cyril Ramaphosa of the ANC was re-elected unopposed. After the election, Ramaphosa immediately ceased to be a Member of Parliament. Ramaphosa was inaugurated within five days after being elected since the official inauguration took place on 25 May 2019. The inauguration was the first to be held at the Loftus Versfeld Stadium in Pretoria, and not at the Union Buildings. The Union Buildings had been the official venue of the presidential inauguration since the country's first democratically elected president, Nelson Mandela, took the oath of office in 1994.[10][11][12]

The first sitting of the National Council of Provinces was held on 23 May 2019. Permanent delegates were sworn in and a Chairperson, Deputy Chairperson, House Chairpersons and Chief Whip were elected.[13][14]

Former Mayor of Johannesburg Amos Masondo was elected Chairperson of the National Council of Provinces, while former Northern Cape Premier Sylvia Lucas was elected Deputy Chairperson. ANC Chief Whip Seiso Mohai was re-elected.[15]

Leadership

The African National Congress announced its parliamentary leadership on 20 May 2019. The Democratic Alliance announced the following day that the Parliamentary Leader of the Democratic Alliance, Mmusi Maimane, and Opposition Chief Whip in the National Assembly, John Steenhuisen, would both retain their respective posts. Both were elected to full five-year terms on 30 May 2019 as the DA held parliamentary caucus leadership elections.[16] Mmusi Maimane resigned from Parliament on 24 October 2019. John Steenhuisen was appointed as his successor with Natasha Mazzone as the new Chief Whip.[17][18]

On 22 May 2019, embattled outgoing Minister of Environmental Affairs Nomvula Mokonyane announced her withdrawal from the ANC parliamentary list, citing family reasons. Mokonyane was initially announced by the ANC as the incoming Chairperson of Committees.[19][20] On 27 June 2019, current parliamentary Chairperson of Committees, Cedric Frolick, was re-elected to his position, despite the official opposition Democratic Alliance nominating one of its MPs, Annelie Lotriet, for the post. Other elected presiding officers include Grace Boroto and Madala Ntombela.[21][22][23]

In July 2019, the parliamentary committees elected controversial former Zuma-era cabinet ministers as committee chairpersons. The Democratic Alliance opposed each of the chairpersons in the committee elections. The newly elected committee chairpersons include Faith Muthambi, Sfiso Buthelezi, Tina Joemat-Pettersson and Bongani Bongo. Inkatha Freedom Party MP Mkhuleko Hlengwa was elected Chairperson of the Standing Committee on Public Accounts (SCOPA).[24][25][26]

National Assembly

National Council of the Provinces

Current composition

National Assembly
Composition of the National Assembly in the 27th Parliament
PartySeats%
African National Congress23057.5
Democratic Alliance8421
Economic Freedom Fighters4411
Inkatha Freedom Party143.5
Freedom Front Plus102.5
African Christian Democratic Party41
United Democratic Movement20.5
African Transformation Movement20.5
Good20.5
National Freedom Party20.5
Congress of the People20.5
African Independent Congress20.5
Pan Africanist Congress10.25
Al Jama-ah10.25
Total400100.00

National Council of Provinces
Composition of the National Council of Provinces in the 27th Parliament; a darker shade represents a permanent delegate while a lighter shade represents a special delegate
 
Party Delegate type Province Total
EC FS G KZN L M NW NC WC
African National Congress Permanent 4 3 3 3 4 4 3 3 2 29 54
Special 3 3 2 3 4 3 3 3 1 25
Democratic Alliance Permanent 1 1 2 1 1 1 1 2 3 13 20
Special 1 1 1 1 3 7
Economic Freedom Fighters Permanent 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 9 11
Special 1 1 2
Freedom Front Plus Permanent 1 1 2 3
Special 1 1
Inkatha Freedom Party Permanent 1 1 2
Special 1 1
Total 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 90

Membership
See also: List of National Assembly members of the 27th Parliament of South Africa and List of National Council of Provinces members of the 27th Parliament of South Africa
gollark: English is awful because we mostly overanalyze literature and write essays and stuff, but we did writing one time and that was fun.
gollark: A lot of the chemistry and physics stuff we do at school is... somewhat interesting at first, but we end up going over it again and again and doing endless worksheets for some reason, which is not very interesting.
gollark: They might actually be actively negative in some areas, since for quite a lot of people being forced to learn the boring stuff they don't care about will make them ignore the interesting bits.
gollark: Personally I figure that schools are wildly inefficient at actually transmitting knowledge and skills anyway, so meh.
gollark: It would just be exam revision for me at school, being year 11, so not much actual learning anyway.

References
  1. Sona 2019: More 'hell' & economy growing solutions expected - EWN. Retrieved on 24 June 2019.
  2. WATCH: Newly elected MPs sworn in. Retrieved on 22 May 2019.
  3. Cyril Ramaphosa elected as president of SA, opposition wishes him well. Retrieved on 22 May 2019.
  4. Sylvia Lucas 'deeply humbled' by election as NCOP deputy chair. Retrieved on 24 May 2019.
  5. Masondo elected NCOP chairperson. Retrieved on 24 May 2019.
  6. Constitution of South Africa
  7. Davis, Gaye. First sitting of sixth democratic Parliament set for 22 May, Eyewitness News, 2 May 2019. Retrieved on 2 May 2019.
  8. Tshabalala, Thabo. First sitting of Sixth Democratic Parliament set for 22 May, Jacaranda FM, 2 May 2019. Retrieved on 2 May 2019.
  9. NA Presiding Officers, Parliament of South Africa. Retrieved on 2 May 2019.
  10. Loftus Versfeld gets presidential nod, IOL, 16 April 2019. Retrieved on 2 May 2019.
  11. Somdyala, Kamva. New president's inauguration to be held at Loftus in May, News24, 13 April 2019. Retrieved on 2 May 2019.
  12. Presidential inauguration moves to Loftus. Retrieved on 2 May 2019.
  13. The Road to the Sixth Democratic Parliament, Parliament of South Africa. Retrieved on 2 May 2019.
  14. NCOP MPs sworn in, including former political prisoner Kenny Motsamai. Retrieved on 23 May 2019.
  15. Masondo elected new #NCOP chair. Retrieved on 24 May 2019.
  16. Meet the ANC’s new team for Parliament. Retrieved on 20 May 2019.
  17. "Mmusi Maimane resigns from DA and Parliament". News24. 2019-10-24. Retrieved 2019-10-24.
  18. "DEVELOPING | DA in crisis: John Steenhuisen says he's no longer chief whip". News24. 2019-10-24. Retrieved 2019-10-24.
  19. Nomvula Mokonyane withdraws as ANC MP. Retrieved on 22 May 2019.
  20. Mokonyane won’t be taking up her position as MP due to ‘family responsibilities’. Retrieved on 22 May 2019.
  21. ANC's Cedric Frolick elected as parliament house chair - but not without drama. Retrieved on 15 July 2019.
  22. Frolick elected Parliament’s chair of chairs. Retrieved on 15 July 2019.
  23. ANC MP linked to Bosasa scandal elected National Assembly House chair. Retrieved on 15 July 2019.
  24. DA to oppose 'problematic' ANC committee chairpersons. Retrieved on 15 July 2019.
  25. ANC pushes through controversial committee chairpersons. Retrieved on 15 July 2019.
  26. IFP's Mkhuleko Hlengwa set to become Scopa chair. Retrieved on 23 July 2019.
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