Parliament of South Africa

Key Facts

Head of State: President Cyril Ramaphosa

Joined the Commonwealth: 1931 (Statute of Westminster; left in 1961, rejoined in 1994)

Capital City (location of Parliament): Cape Town

Unicameral/Bicameral: Bicameral - National Assembly (400), Senate (90)

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CPA UK & South Africa

Following a visit to the Parliament of South Africa to discuss parliamentary practice in 2019, CPA UK and the Core Business Division of the Parliament of South Africa in 2020 launched a series of exchanges between clerks and senior parliamentary staff of the UK and South African Parliaments to share expertise in areas of mutual interest. The first, in September 2020, explored changes to parliamentary procedure and committee work necessitated by Covid-19 restrictions. The second, in February 2021, explored public participation and outreach. Further exchanges are planned to take place virtually or in person in 2021. 

In previous years delegates from South Africa have regularly participated in CPA UK’s multilateral projects, for example by attending the Westminster Seminar in November 2017. In February 2017, CPA UK through its fellowship scheme funded an Africa APPG visit to South Africa and Namibia exploring Africa-UK Trade development and cooperation. The report produced following the visit is available here. In March 2016, CPA UK hosted a delegation of six officials from the Office of the Public Prosecutors, which included both chief executive and chief financial officers.

At the request of the Presiding Officers of the Mpumalanga and KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Legislatures CPA UK supported a benchmarking exercise in the UK Parliament by coordinating a three-day programme in Westminster between 28 and 30 November 2017.

CPA UK looks forward to future engagement with the Parliament of South Africa.

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Examples of our Past Programmes

Bilateral engagements between parliamentary officials, remote/ virtual, 29 September 2020 

CPA UK and the Core Business Support Division at the Parliament of South Africa have facilitated a series of engagements between clerks, managers, IT staff, engagement officers, and other parliamentary staff from both legislatures to share experience and good practice across participants' workstreams, ranging from public outreach to external communications. Details on the virtual discussion on public participation and outreach on 15 February 2021 are available here. HR strategy and organisational restructuring were discussed on 13 September 2021; see the news page for details.