General: National Assembly, provincial legislature lists gazetted

The first sitting of the National Assembly and NCOP following last week’s elections will take place on Wednesday 22 and Thursday 23 May respectively. This was confirmed yesterday in a Government Gazette notice issued by the Office of the Chief Justice, Mogoeng Mogoeng, reports Pam Saxby for Legalbrief Policy Watch. The first sitting of the National Assembly under SA’s sixth democratic Parliament will elect the Speaker and Deputy Speaker of the House and the country’s President in that order – a process spelled out in the National Assembly rules. Before that, political party representatives elected to serve in the House will be sworn in by the Chief Justice, who will also preside over the election of the Speaker and the President. The Speaker will preside over the election of his/her deputy.

Lists of persons elected as representatives to serve in the National Assembly and the provincial legislatures were published in a separate notice issued yesterday by the Independent Electoral Commission. According to a media statement released by Parliament on 10 May, before the NCOP’s first sitting the members of each provincial legislature under SA’s sixth democratic administration must be sworn in and their permanent delegates to the NCOP appointed. This is noting that, of the 10 delegates from each province, four are ‘special’ and six are permanent. Anyone appointed as a permanent NCOP delegate ceases to be a member of the provincial legislature concerned. Special delegates include the provincial Premier and are rotated, depending on the subject matter being considered by the NCOP (Parliament). During its first sitting, the NCOP will elect a chair and deputy chair.

Meanwhile, in his capacity as existing and incoming President, Cyril Ramaphosa has assured the top management and chairs of financial institutions and leading companies across all industry sectors that ‘the structure of Cabinet in the sixth administration will enable government to focus on generating higher economic growth, creating more jobs and serving the people of SA better’. This is according to a Presidency media statement on Ramaphosa’s ‘interactions’ with business leaders at a forum convened yesterday by Goldman Sachs. Focusing on implementing the National Development Plan and programmes feeding into it, the incoming administration will be led by ‘men and women with great competence and capability to serve the people of SA’.

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