Speaker of the National Assembly of South Africa

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

The office of speaker of the National Assembly was preceded by the offices of speaker of the House of Assembly (1910–1984) under the 1909 and 1961 constitutions and speaker of Parliament under the Tricameral Parliament (1984–1994).

Background

The speaker is chosen from among the members of the Assembly at its first sitting following a general election and whenever the office is vacant.<ref name="Parliament1">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> 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 runs smoothly. Each political party 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.

Selection

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

Mandate

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)

Cape House of Assembly (1854–1910)

Template:Abbr	Name Template:Small	Portrait	Term of office
1	Sir Christoffel Brand Template:Small		1854–1873
2	Sir David Tennant Template:Small		1874–1895
3	Sir Henry Juta Template:Small		1896–1898
4	Sir Bisset Berry Template:Small		1899–1907
5	James Tennant Molteno Template:Small		1907–1910

House of Assembly (1910–1994)

Template:Abbr	Portrait	Name Template:Small	Term of office			Political party
			Took office	Left office	Time in office
style="background:Template:Party color; color:white;"| 1		Sir James Tennant Molteno Template:Small<ref>From 1911, Sir James Tennant Molteno</ref>	1 November 1910	18 November 1915	Template:Age in years and days	South African Party
style="background:Template:Party color; color:white;"| 2		Joel Krige Template:Small	19 November 1915	24 July 1924	Template:Age in years and days	South African Party
style="background:Template:Party color;"| 3		Ernest George Jansen Template:Small	25 July 1924	19 June 1929	Template:Age in years and days	National Party
style="background:Template:Party color;"| 4		Template:Ill Template:Small	19 July 1929	25 May 1933	Template:Age in years and days	National Party
style="background:Template:Party color;"| Template:Small		Ernest George Jansen Template:Small	26 May 1933	21 January 1944	Template:Age in years and days	National Party Template:Small
style="background:Template:Party color;"|						United Party Template:Small
style="background:Template:Party color; color:white;"| 5		Clifford Meyer van Coller Template:Small	22 January 1944	5 August 1948	Template:Age in years and days	United Party
style="background:Template:Party color;"| 6		Jozua François Naudé Template:Small	6 August 1948	7 November 1950	Template:Age in years and days	National Party
style="background:Template:Party color;"| 7		Johannes Conradie Template:Small	19 January 1951	31 December 1960	Template:Age in years and days	National Party
style="background:Template:Party color;"| 8		Henning Johannes Klopper Template:Small	20 January 1961	1 August 1974	Template:Age in years and days	National Party
style="background:Template:Party color;"| 9		Alwyn Schlebusch Template:Small	2 August 1974	25 January 1976	Template:Age in years and days	National Party
style="background:Template:Party color;"| 10		Template:Ill Template:Small	26 January 1976	30 July 1981	Template:Age in years and days	National Party
style="background:Template:Party color;"| 11		J. P. du Toit	31 July 1981	13 February 1983	Template:Age in years and days	National Party
style="background:Template:Party color;"| 12		Johan Greeff Template:Small	14 February 1983	31 December 1986	Template:Age in years and days	National Party
style="background:Template:Party color;"| 13		Louis le Grange Template:Small	1 January 1987	25 October 1991 Template:Small	Template:Age in years and days	National Party
style="background:Template:Party color;"| 14		Gene Louw Template:Small	14 November 1991	9 May 1994	Template:Age in years and days	National Party

National Assembly (1994–present)

Template:Abbr	Portrait	Name Template:Small	Term of office			Political party
			Took office	Left office	Time in office
style="background:Template:Party color; color:white;"| 1		Frene Ginwala Template:Small	9 May 1994	12 July 2004	Template:Age in years and days	African National Congress
style="background:Template:Party color; color:white;"| 2		Baleka Mbete Template:Small	12 July 2004	25 September 2008	Template:Age in years and days	African National Congress
style="background:Template:Party color; color:white;"| 3		Gwen Mahlangu-Nkabinde Template:Small	25 September 2008	6 May 2009	Template:Age in years and days	African National Congress
style="background:Template:Party color; color:white;"| 4		Max Sisulu Template:Small	6 May 2009	21 May 2014	Template:Age in years and days	African National Congress
style="background:Template:Party color; color:white;"| Template:Small		Baleka Mbete Template:Small	21 May 2014	22 May 2019	Template:Age in years and days	African National Congress
style="background:Template:Party color; color:white;"| 5		Thandi Modise Template:Small	22 May 2019	5 August 2021	Template:Age in years and days	African National Congress
style="background:Template:Party color; color:white;"| 6		Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula Template:Small	19 August 2021	3 April 2024	Template:Age in years and days	African National Congress
style="background:Template:Party color; color:white;"| 7		Thoko Didiza Template:Small	14 June 2024	Incumbent	Template:Age in years and days	African National Congress

Timeline since 1910

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Define $today = {{#time:d/m/Y}}

Colors =

 id:sap value:rgb(0.07,0.62,0.82) legend:South_African_Party
 id:np  value:rgb(0.97,0.58,0.11) legend:National_Party
 id:up  value:rgb(0,0.39,1)       legend:United_Party
 id:anc value:rgb(0,0.5,0)        legend:African_National_Congress

 id:gray1  value:gray(0.85)
 id:gray2  value:gray(0.95)

DateFormat = dd/mm/yyyy Period = from:01/01/1910 till:31/12/{{#expr:{{#time:Y}}+1}} TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal ScaleMajor = gridcolor:gray1 unit:year increment:5 start:1910 ScaleMinor = gridcolor:gray2 unit:year increment:1 start:1910

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TextData =

 pos:(20,38) textcolor:black fontsize:M
 text:"Political party:"

BarData =

bar:Molteno
bar:Krige
bar:Jansen
bar:Waal
bar:Coller
bar:Naudé
bar:Conradie
bar:Klopper
bar:Schlebusch
bar:Loots
bar:Toit
bar:Greeff
bar:Grange
bar:Louw
bar:Ginwala
bar:Mbete
bar:Mahlangu-Nkabinde
bar:Sisulu
bar:Modise
bar:Mapisa-Nqakula
bar:Didiza

PlotData =

 width:5 align:left fontsize:9 shift:(5,-4) anchor:till

bar:Molteno
 from: 01/11/1910 till: 18/11/1915 color:sap text:"James Tennant Molteno"
bar:Krige
 from: 19/11/1915 till: 24/07/1924 color:sap text:"Joel Krige"
bar:Jansen
 from: 25/07/1924 till: 19/06/1929 color:np
 from: 26/05/1933 till: 01/01/1934 color:np
 from: 01/01/1934 till: 21/01/1944 color:up  text:"Ernest George Jansen"
bar:Waal
 from: 19/07/1929 till: 25/05/1933 color:np  text:"Jan Hendrik Hofmeyr de Waal"
bar:Coller
 from: 22/01/1944 till: 05/08/1948 color:up  text:"C. M. van Coller"
bar:Naudé
 from: 06/08/1948 till: 07/11/1950 color:np  text:"Tom Naudé"
bar:Conradie
 from: 19/01/1951 till: 31/12/1960 color:np  text:"J. H. Conradie"
bar:Klopper
 from: 20/01/1961 till: 01/08/1974 color:np  text:"Henning Klopper"
bar:Schlebusch
 from: 02/08/1974 till: 25/01/1976 color:np  text:"Alwyn Schlebusch"
bar:Loots
 from: 26/01/1976 till: 30/07/1981 color:np  text:"Jannie Loots"
bar:Toit
 from: 31/07/1981 till: 13/02/1983 color:np  text:"J. P. du Toit"
bar:Greeff
 from: 14/02/1983 till: 31/12/1986 color:np  text:"Johan Greeff"
bar:Grange
 from: 01/01/1987 till: 25/10/1991 color:np  text:"Louis le Grange"
bar:Louw
 from: 14/11/1991 till: 09/05/1994 color:np  text:"Gene Louw"
bar:Ginwala
 from: 09/05/1994 till: 12/07/2004 color:anc text:"Frene Ginwala"
bar:Mbete
 from: 12/07/2004 till: 25/09/2008 color:anc
 from: 21/05/2014 till: 22/05/2019 color:anc text:"Baleka Mbete"
bar:Mahlangu-Nkabinde
 from: 25/09/2008 till: 06/05/2009 color:anc text:"Gwen Mahlangu-Nkabinde"
bar:Sisulu
 from: 06/05/2009 till: 21/05/2014 color:anc text:"Max Sisulu"
bar:Modise
 from: 22/05/2019 till: 05/08/2021 color:anc text:"Thandi Modise"
bar:Mapisa-Nqakula
 from: 19/08/2021 till: 03/04/2024 color:anc text:"Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula"
bar:Didiza
 from: 14/06/2024 till: $today     color:anc text:"Thoko Didiza"

</timeline>

See also

• Parliament of the Cape of Good Hope
• House of Assembly of South Africa
• Tricameral Parliament
• National Assembly of South Africa

External links

• South African ministries, etc – Rulers.org