Posts

Contribute to PMG’s survey on public participation in Parliament

In a well-functioning democracy, where politicians are elected to represent the people of the country and act as their voice, public participation is a critical and essential good governance tool that fosters accountability, transparency, and public oversight. This gives people the chance to meaningfully participate in decisions that affect their lives. In South Africa, as Read more >

The ParliMeter, a new tool for enhancing public participation in Parliament

Image: Flickr/GovernmentZA The Parliamentary Monitoring Group (PMG) is well-known as a dependable source of information on our legislature and its doings. Providing information on committee meetings, alerting the public to calls for comment on bills and discussion documents, and publishing the scheduled programme of meetings and debates is all in day’s work for the organisation. Read more >

How can Parliament be better? Pari researches and advises

Effective parliamentary oversight is essential for a well-functioning democracy. Parliament is the body that exercises oversight over the workings and decisions of government’s executive branch, ensuring that service delivery takes place as promised and where this does not happen, that government is answerable to the people it serves – so that all citizens can live Read more >

Will Gordhan’s legacy be harmed by recent events?

By Moepeng Valencia Talane – CW Voices Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan recently told Parliament in a written response to a question that state entities under his watch for the past five years, which include Eskom, Transnet and South African Airways (SAA), had lost over R200-billion to corruption in that period. He has also announced Read more >

Weakened law-making system leads to inadequate legislation

Image: Wikimedia Commons, used under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license South Africa’s law-making regime is another casualty of the corruption and mismanagement that was prevalent during the state capture years, writes Caroline James, advocacy co-ordinator at amaBhungane. Here she describes how amaBhungane and Corruption Watch had to rush to get their joint submission Read more >

Interviews begin for appointment of inspector-general of intelligence

Parliament has announced that next week, on 8 and 9 February 2022, its joint standing committee on intelligence (JSCI) will interview the 10 shortlisted candidates vying for the position of inspector-general of intelligence (IGI). Importantly, the media may attend the interviews at Parliament, and the public may follow them virtually through streaming on Parliament’s social Read more >

Weak state institutions boost private sector corruption

By Linda Ensor First published in Business Day The private sector, including legal and auditing firms, has been complicit in facilitating the illegal removal of money out of the country, says Prof Ivor Chipkin, director of the University of Witwatersrand Public Affairs Research Institute. Chipkin made a submission to Parliament’s portfolio committee of public enterprises, Read more >