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Press conference: Report of Independent Panel for Assessment of Parliament
12 January 2009
Parliament’s National Assembly Speaker Gwen Mahlangu-Nkabinde and National Council of Provinces Chairperson Mninwa J Mahlangu will tomorrow receive the report of the Independent Panel Assessment of Parliament.
Civil society organisations who participated in the assessment have also been invited to attend the event.
The panel comprised Pregs Govender (panel chairperson and recently-appointed Commissioner to the South African Human Rights Commission), Selby Baqwa, Colin Eglin, Judith February, John Kane-Berman, Papati Robert Malavi, Koko Mashigo, Aubrey Matshiqi, Sipho Seepe, Max Sisulu and Frederick van Zyl Slabbert.
South Africa’s parliament is one of few Parliaments worldwide to have commissioned such an independent assessment and to make the contents public.
Parliament established the 11 member panel in December 2006 and deliberately selected politically diverse individuals known for independent thought to ensure the assessment would, indeed, be critical.
As Govender notes in her foreword to the report, “This reflected a willingness to engage with criticism of the institution and themselves as the leaders of this institution in the quest to strengthen Parliament.”
The full report and other documents related to it will be available at 10h30 on Tuesday, 13 January 2009 at http://www.parliament.gov.za.
Date: Tuesday, 13 January 2009
Time: 10h30
Venue: Palm Court, Marks Building, Parliament
Please RSVP by 12h00 on Monday, 12 January to:
Estelle Randall
Tel: 021 403 8195
E-mail: erandall@parliament.gov.za
Issued by: Parliament
12 January 2009
Source: Parliament (http://www.parliament.gov.za/)