The Chief Whip of the Majority Party is an official office bearer in the

National Assembly of South Africa The National Assembly is the directly elected house of the Parliament of South Africa, located in Cape Town, Western Cape. It consists of four hundred members who are elected every five years using a party-list proportional representation syste ...

. , Pemmy Majodina of the

African National Congress The African National Congress (ANC) is a Social democracy, social-democratic political party in Republic of South Africa, South Africa. A liberation movement known for its opposition to apartheid, it has governed the country since 1994, when ...

(ANC) serves as the Chief Whip of the Majority Party. She is the second woman to hold the office.

Appointment

After being nominated by the majority party in the National Assembly, the

speaker Speaker may refer to: Society and politics * Speaker (politics), the presiding officer in a legislative assembly * Public speaker, one who gives a speech or lecture * A person producing speech: the producer of a given utterance, especially: ** I ...

approves the appointment.

Functions

Although elections to the National Assembly are held using a system of

proportional representation Proportional representation (PR) refers to a type of electoral system under which subgroups of an electorate are reflected proportionately in the elected body. The concept applies mainly to geographical (e.g. states, regions) and political divis ...

and Members of Parliament of the majority party are expected to vote in the desired way of party leadership, the position of Chief Whip was retained. The Chief Whip of the Majority Party oversees the whipping system of the majority party and ensures that Members of Parliament belonging to the majority party attend plenary sessions and vote on legislation in the National Assembly. The Chief Whip, in discussion with the Chief Whip of the largest opposition party, is responsible for the programme of the National Assembly. The Chief Whip is also responsible for approving the budgets of parliamentary committees after consulting with the Chairperson of Committees.

Lists of Chief Whips

Since the creation of the National Assembly in 1994, the position has been held by a member of the

, the majority party in the National Assembly.

References

{{reflist Political whips Parliament of South Africa