The Speaker of the National Assembly presides over the National Assembly of South Africa, the lower house of the Parliament of South Africa. 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 ...

is chosen from among the

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 ...

of the Assembly at its first sitting following a general election and whenever the office is vacant. The Speaker acts as a " referee", taking charge of debates to make sure that the MPs can participate freely while keeping to the rules. The Speaker also has managerial duties to ensure that

Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. Th ...

runs smoothly. Each

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific ideological or p ...

in the Assembly elects a chief whip to run its affairs. The presiding officers, the chief whips, and the Leader of Government Business (the person appointed by the Cabinet to liaise with Parliament) together decide on the programme of work. The office of Speaker of the National Assembly was preceded by the offices of Speaker of the

House of Assembly House of Assembly is a name given to the legislature or lower house of a bicameral parliament. In some countries this may be at a subnational level. Historically, in British Crown colonies as the colony gained more internal responsible gove ...

(1910–1984) under the 1909 and 1961 constitutions and Speaker of Parliament under the

Tricameral Parliament The Tricameral Parliament, officially the Parliament of the Republic of South Africa, was the legislature of South Africa between 1984 and 1994, established by the South African Constitution of 1983, which gave a limited political voice to ...

(1984–1994).

The Speaker

The Speaker of the National Assembly is elected to and removed from office in terms of S52 of the Constitution. In terms of this section the: *House must elect the Speaker from its members during the first House sitting *The house may remove the Speaker by resolution *The house must fill the position when it becomes vacant during term *Chief Justice must preside over the election of the Speaker

The Mandate of the Speaker

The Speaker's mandate is twofold. It is constitutional and institutional. This mandate is furthermore dual at the National Assembly and Parliamentary level. In both situations, it involves interacting with the following sectors of the global community: *International *Continental *Regional *National

List of speakers (1854–present)

Speakers of the Cape House of Assembly (1854–1910)

Speakers of the House of Assembly (1910–1994)

Speakers of the National Assembly (1994–present)

References

External links

South African ministries, etc – Rulers.org
{{SouthAfricaAssemblySpeakers Legislative speakers in South Africa Parliament of South Africa