The National Assembly is the directly elected house of the
Parliament of South Africa
The Parliament of the Republic of South Africa is South Africa's legislature; under the present Constitution of South Africa, the bicameral Parliament comprises a National Assembly and a National Council of Provinces. The current twenty-seve ...
, located in
Cape Town
Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...
,
Western Cape
The Western Cape is a province of South Africa, situated on the south-western coast of the country. It is the fourth largest of the nine provinces with an area of , and the third most populous, with an estimated 7 million inhabitants in 2020 ...
. It consists of four hundred
members
Member may refer to:
* Military jury, referred to as "Members" in military jargon
* Element (mathematics), an object that belongs to a mathematical set
* In object-oriented programming, a member of a class
** Field (computer science), entries in ...
who are elected every five years using a
party-list
An electoral list is a grouping of candidates for election, usually found in proportional or mixed electoral systems, but also in some plurality electoral systems. An electoral list can be registered by a political party (a party list) or can ...
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 ...
system where half of the members are elected proportionally from nine provincial lists and the remaining half from national lists so as to restore proportionality.
The National Assembly is presided over by a
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 ...
, assisted by a
Deputy Speaker
The speaker of a deliberative assembly, especially a legislative body, is its presiding officer, or the chair. The title was first used in 1377 in England.
Usage
The title was first recorded in 1377 to describe the role of Thomas de Hungerf ...
. The current Speaker is
Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula
Nosiviwe Noluthando Mapisa-Nqakula (born 13 November 1956) is a South African politician who currently serves as the Speaker of the National Assembly as of 19 August 2021. She has previously held the office of Minister of Defence and Military ...
who previously served as the Minister of Defence and Military Veterans. She was elected on 19 August 2021. The Deputy Speaker is
Solomon Lechesa Tsenoli
Solomon Lechesa Tsenoli is a South African politician who currently serves as the Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly of South Africa.
See also
*African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights
*Constitution of South Africa
* History of the ...
who has served in the post since his election on 21 May 2014.
The National Assembly chamber was destroyed in
a fire in January 2022. National Assembly sittings will now be held in the old Good Hope Chamber, which is within the precincts of parliament.
Allocation
The National Assembly seats are allocated using a
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 ...
system with
closed lists. Seats are first allocated according to the (integer part of the)
Droop quota. Thereafter at most five seats are allocated using the
largest remainder method
The largest remainder method (also known as Hare–Niemeyer method, Hamilton method or as Vinton's method) is one way of allocating seats proportionally for representative assemblies with party list voting systems. It contrasts with variou ...
(using the Droop quota). Any additional seats are allocated amongst the parties who then already have seats using the
highest averages method
A highest-averages method, also called a divisor method, is a class of methods for allocating seats in a parliament among agents such as political parties or federal states. A divisor method is an iterative method: at each iteration, the number ...
.
Voters have one vote at elections to the National Assembly. Seats are allocated in ten multi-member constituencies via party lists. One constituency is a national or 'at large' constituency and nine others represent each of the nine
provinces
A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman '' provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...
. The lists were called the national lists and regional lists in the 2009 election. 'Regional' was used to avoid confusion with the provincial legislature elections held at the same time. Previously they were called 'National to National' and 'Provincial to National'.
Of the 400 members of the National Assembly, half are assigned to be elected from national lists and the remaining half are assigned to be elected from regional lists. Every election, the
Independent Electoral Commission
An election commission is a body charged with overseeing the implementation of electioneering process of any country. The formal names of election commissions vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, and may be styled an electoral commission, a c ...
(IEC) determines the allocation of the 200 regional list seats to each province by population.
Parties decide whether they want to set up both national and regional lists or only regional lists. In the
2009 election, the
Democratic Alliance (DA) chose not to use a national list. The nationwide votes entitled the DA to 67 seats, but the provincial votes amounted to only 35 seats. While normally the remaining 32 members would be drawn from the party's national list, in this case the remaining seats were distributed among the other DA regional list candidates. This resulted in the National Assembly being made up of 168 members elected on national lists and 232 members elected on regional lists.
History
The National Assembly was first elected in South Africa's
first non-racial election in 1994 with 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) winning 252 of the 400 seats. The
National Party (NP), the previous governing party, won 82 seats, and the
Inkatha Freedom Party
The Inkatha Freedom Party ( zu, IQembu leNkatha yeNkululeko, IFP) is a right-wing political party in South Africa. The party has been led by Velenkosini Hlabisa since the party's 2019 National General Conference. Mangosuthu Buthelezi founded ...
(IFP) won 43. Under the terms of the
Interim Constitution A provisional constitution, interim constitution or transitional constitution is a constitution intended to serve during a transitional period until a permanent constitution is adopted. The following countries currently have,had in the past,such a c ...
this result entitled the NP and the IFP to take part in the
Government of National Unity
A national unity government, government of national unity (GNU), or national union government is a broad coalition government consisting of all parties (or all major parties) in the legislature, usually formed during a time of war or other nati ...
alongside the ANC, and gave the ANC and NP the right to each nominate one Deputy President. The other parties represented in the assembly were the
Freedom Front
The Freedom Front Plus (FF Plus; af, Vryheidsfront Plus, ''VF Plus'') is a right-wing political party in South Africa that was formed (as the Freedom Front) in 1994. It is led by Pieter Groenewald. Its current stated policy positions include ...
(9 seats), the
Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to:
*Democratic Party (United States)
Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to:
Active parties Africa
*Botswana Democratic Party
*Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea
*Gabonese Democratic Party
*Demo ...
(7 seats), the
Pan Africanist Congress
The Pan Africanist Congress of Azania (known as the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC)) is a South African national liberation Pan-Africanist movement that is now a political party. It was founded by an Africanist group, led by Robert Sobukwe, that ...
(5 seats), and the
African Christian Democratic Party (2 seats).
In the
election of 1999, the ANC won 266 seats, one short of the
two-thirds majority 2/3 may refer to:
* A fraction with decimal value 0.6666...
* A way to write the expression "2 ÷ 3" ("two divided by three")
* 2nd Battalion, 3rd Marines of the United States Marine Corps
* February 3
* March 2
Events Pre-1600
* 537 – ...
needed to unilaterally amend the constitution. The DP expanded its representation to become the
official opposition with 38 seats, while the IFP won 34. The NP, now renamed the
New National Party (NNP), dropped to 28 seats, and the newly formed
United Democratic Movement
The United Democratic Movement (UDM) is a centre-left, social-democratic, South African political party, formed by a prominent former National Party leader, Roelf Meyer (who has since resigned from the UDM), a former African National Congress ...
(UDM) won 14. Eight smaller parties also obtained seats in the assembly.
In the
election of 2004 the ANC obtained 279 seats, gaining a two-thirds majority and the ability to change the constitution. The DP became the
Democratic Alliance (DA) and remained the official opposition with 50 seats, while the IFP won 28 seats. The NNP was severely weakened, obtaining only 7 seats; the party was formally disbanded in 2005 with the majority of the party joining the ANC.
In the
election of 2009 the ANC lost its two-thirds majority but remained the majority party with 264 seats. The DA increased its support to 67 seats, and the new
Congress of the People (COPE) party, a breakaway from the ANC, obtained 30 seats. The IFP was reduced to 18 seats.
In the
election of 2014 the ANC lost further seats, but remained the majority party with 249 seats. The DA increased its support to 89 seats, while the
Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), a far-left breakaway from the ANC, obtained 25 seats. The IFP further reduced to 10 seats while COPE's influence was strongly reduced, only electing three MPs.
In the
election of 2019 the ANC lost even more seats, but remained the majority party with a seat total of 230 seats. The Official Opposition DA declined from 89 seats to 84 seats. The EFF increased its seat total to 44 seats. The IFP managed to arrest the decline in its support and obtained 14 seats. The
Freedom Front Plus
The Freedom Front Plus (FF Plus; af, Vryheidsfront Plus, ''VF Plus'') is a right-wing political party in South Africa that was formed (as the Freedom Front) in 1994. It is led by Pieter Groenewald. Its current stated policy positions include a ...
(FF+) grew to 10 seats, a gain of 6 seats. Nine other parties obtained seats.
The following table shows the party composition of the National Assembly over time:
Election results
The
last election was held on 8 May 2019.
Current composition
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, -
, , , 230 , , 57.5
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, , , 84 , , 21
, -
, , , 44 , , 11
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, , , 14 , , 3.5
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, , , 10 , , 2.5
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, -
, , , 2 , , 0.5
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, -
, , , 2 , , 0.5
, -
, , , 2 , , 0.5
, -
, , , 2 , , 0.5
, -
, , , 2 , , 0.5
, -
, , , 1 , , 0.25
, -
, , , 1 , , 0.25
, -
, colspan="2" style="text-align:left", Total , , style="text-align:right", 400 , , 100.00
Salaries of members of the National Assembly
Annual monetary remuneration
As of 2019, the highest earning members of the National Assembly are 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 ...
of the National Assembly and the
deputy president of the Republic of South Africa, who is the head of the
executive government
The Executive, also referred as the Executive branch or Executive power, is the term commonly used to describe that part of government which enforces the law, and has overall responsibility for the governance of a state.
In political systems b ...
's representatives in the National Assembly. They each earn an annual salary of
R2,825,470.
The second highest earning members of the National Assembly are Members of Parliament (MP) who are also
cabinet ministers
A cabinet is a body of high-ranking state officials, typically consisting of the executive branch's top leaders. Members of a cabinet are usually called cabinet ministers or secretaries. The function of a cabinet varies: in some countrie ...
. They earn an annual salary of R2,401,633
The Deputy Speaker earns an annual salary of R1,977,795. This is also the salary of deputy cabinet ministers.
Senior
MPs, such as the leader of the opposition and
chief whips of each party, earn an annual salary of R1,600,467.
MPs who chair committees earn an annual salary of R1,405,015.
Leaders of minority parties earn R1,309,563.
Regular MPs earn R1,106,940.
Other benefits
* 88 domestic journeys per year which can either be by air, train, bus or vehicle.
* Transport to and from South African airports.
* Parking at South African airports.
* Transport of dependents.
* Relocation costs.
* "Tools of trade", which include mobile phones, tablets and laptops.
* Equipment, furniture and stationery for MPs' offices inside the national assembly.
* Personal accident insurance.
* Accommodation at the parliamentary villages in Cape Town.
* Daily transport to and from the villages to parliament.
According to ''Business Insider South Africa'', SA MPs are in the top 1% earning bracket in the nation. The lowest earning MP earns a monthly salary of around R92,245.
This salary comes while the average South African earned a monthly salary of around R21,432, as of September 2019 and the minimum wage was just R20 per hour.
References
External links
Parliament of South Africa*
National Assembly
{{DEFAULTSORT:National Assembly of South Africa
South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...
Parliament of South Africa