South Africa

About parliament

Basic information such as the official name of parliament and details of its structure and leadership. Also includes the current breakdown of MPs by sex and age, and provisions for quotas and reserved seats.

Parliament name
Parliament
Chamber name
National Assembly
Structure & Status of parliament This field is to indicate lower/upper in the back end.
Lower chamber
Parliamentary term (years)
5

IPU membership

Affiliation periods
from 1994
IPU Geopolitical Group/s IPU Geopolitical Groups: African Group, Arab Group, Asia-Pacific Group, Eurasia Group, Group of Latin America and the Caribbean (GRULAC), Twelve Plus Group.
African Group

Speaker

Official title The Speaker may for example be known as the Presiding Officer, President, Chairman/Chairperson, etc.
Speaker of the National Assembly
Speaker
Nosiviwe Noluthando Mapisa-Nqakula (Female)
Year of birth
1956
Term
19.08.2021
Additional information
Elected on 19 Aug. 2021.
See historical data for this field.

Secretary General

Official title This post is most commonly called Secretary General or Clerk. It may also be called Secretary, Head/Chief of the Secretariat, Director General, etc.
Secretary to Parliament
Secretary General
Xolile George (Male)
Notes Additional information about the Secretary General, in particular regarding their term.
15 June 2022 -
Official title This post is most commonly called Secretary General or Clerk. It may also be called Secretary, Head/Chief of the Secretariat, Director General, etc.
Secretary of the National Assembly
Secretary General
Masibulele Xaso (Male)

Members

Statutory number of members Statutory number of members, as defined in the constitution or other fundamental law.
Principal mode of designation of members
Directly elected members Directly elected by citizens.
400
Current number of members Number of members who currently hold seats in parliament. May be lower or higher than the statutory number of members.
398
See historical data for this field. Compare data of this field.
Men The number of male parliamentarians who currently hold seats in parliament.
217
See historical data for this field.
Women The number of female parliamentarians who currently hold seats in parliament.
181
See historical data for this field.
Percentage of women Calculated by dividing the current number of women by the current number of members.
45.48% See historical data for this field.
Statutory number of members per country As defined in the constitution or other fundamental laws. Combines the number of parliamentarians in both chambers in bicameral parliaments.
Population (in thousands)
Click for historical data
See historical data for this field.

Age

Data on the age of parliamentarians is collected at the start of the legislature, following the most recent elections. This data is not updated during the legislature, except when parliament notifies the IPU of a change in the youngest or oldest member.

Youngest member (years) Age at the time of the last election or renewal.
Youngest member
Sibongiseni Ngcobo (Male)
Oldest member (years) Age at the time of the last election or renewal.
88
Oldest member
Buthelezi Mangosuthu (Male)
Number of members, by age
Breakdown of members by age and gender
18 - 20 21 - 30 31 - 40 41 - 45 46 - 50 51 - 60 61 - 70 71 - 80 81 - 90 91 and over Totals per gender
Totals per age interval 0 16 66 38 42 123 49 5 0 1
Total <= 45: 120 Total >= 46: 220
Male 0 10 33 19 20 68 31 3 0 1 185
Female 0 6 33 19 22 55 18 2 0 0 155
Percentage of members, by age
Age as last election or renewalOverallMaleFemale
Percentage of MPs 30 years of age or younger4.71%2.94%1.76%
Percentage of MPs 40 years of age or younger24.12%12.65%11.47%
Percentage of MPs 45 years of age or younger35.29%18.24%17.06%
Members for whom data is available
340 See historical data for this field.

Reserved seats and quotas

There are reserved seats in parliament for certain groups Reserved seats are a means to ensure the parliamentary representation of certain groups in society.
Electoral quota for women Quotas to promote the representation of women in parliament.
Notes
Political party quota - 'the provision of a quota of not less than fifty percent of women in all elected structures.
Electoral quota for youth Quotas to promote the representation of youth in parliament.