National Assembly (South Africa)

The National Assembly is presided over by a speaker, assisted by a deputy speaker. The current speaker as of 14 June 2024 is Thoko Didiza (ANC). The Deputy Speaker is Annelie Lotriet (DA) since 14 June 2024.

The National Assembly chamber was destroyed in a fire in January 2022. National Assembly sittings are now 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 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 (using the Droop quota). Any additional seats are allocated amongst the parties who then already have seats using the highest averages method.

Voters previously had one vote at elections to the National Assembly, but since the 2024 South African general election voters cast two votes. 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. 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 (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.

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History

The National Assembly was first elected in South Africa's first non-racial election in 1994 with the African National Congress (ANC) winning 252 of the 400 seats. The National Party (NP), the previous governing party, won 82 seats, and the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) won 43. Under the terms of the Interim Constitution this result entitled the NP and the IFP to take part in the Government of National Unity 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 (9 seats), the Democratic Party (7 seats), the Pan Africanist Congress (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 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 (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 (FF+) grew to 10 seats, a gain of 6 seats. Nine other parties obtained seats.

In the election of 2024 the ANC lost its majority for the first time since the end of apartheid, winning just 159 seats out of 400. This was in large part due to the formation of the breakaway MK Party founded by Jacob Zuma, which received 58 seats. The DA fought the election with a provisional coalition known as the Multi-Party Charter. After an extensive negotiation process between parties supporting a "statement of intent", a grand coalition, referred to as the Government of National Unity (GNU), was formed by eleven parties, which together holds a supermajority with 288 seats. On 30 June 2024 the president announced the finalisation of the GNU, with the nine parties having been allocated ministers or deputy ministers in the cabinet.

The following table shows the party composition of the National Assembly over time:

Election results

The last finalised election was held on 29 May 2024.

Current composition of Parliament compared to % of vote

Salaries of members of the National Assembly

Annual monetary remuneration

As of 2024, the highest earning members of the National Assembly are the Speaker of the National Assembly and the deputy president of the Republic of South Africa, who is the head of the executive government's representatives in the National Assembly. They each earn an annual salary of R3,164,654.

The second highest earning Members of Parliament (MPs) in the National Assembly are those who are also cabinet ministers. They earn an annual salary of R2,689,937.

The Deputy Speaker and deputy ministers earn an annual salary of R2,215,220.

Senior MPs, such as the leader of the opposition and chief whips of the majority party, earn an annual salary of R1,792,595.

MPs who chair committees earn an annual salary of R1,675,314.

Leaders of minority parties earn R1,507,841.

Regular MPs earn R1,274,536.

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.