South Africa’s political agenda this week focuses on service delivery pressures and continental diplomacy.
On Tuesday, Gauteng education MEC Lebogang Maile will brief on interventions to tackle overcrowding, infrastructure backlogs and bullying in provincial schools as pressure mounts on the provincial government to respond to capacity constraints.
Also on Tuesday, home affairs minister Leon Schreiber will announce the successful bidders for the redevelopment of six key ports of entry, part of a broader programme to strengthen border security, improve trade flows and modernise infrastructure.
From Tuesday to Thursday, the Pan-African Parliament will convene an extraordinary session in Midrand to elect a new bureau, including its president and four vice-presidents, after the expiry of the previous leadership’s term.
Parliament’s programme will run in parallel, with the National Council of Provinces holding debates to mark Freedom Day and Workers’ Day, focusing on social justice, constitutional progress and labour market inequality.
Committees will undertake targeted oversight visits across four provinces as part of parliament’s rotational programme.
The portfolio committee on basic education will conduct inspections in Mpumalanga’s Ehlanzeni and Bohlabela districts, focusing on infrastructure, overcrowding and teacher-to-pupil ratios.
From Tuesday to Friday, the portfolio committee on correctional services will visit facilities in Mpumalanga to assess inmate conditions and rehabilitation programmes.
From Wednesday to Thursday, the portfolio committee on home affairs will visit digitisation sites in Pretoria and Brits to assess progress in modernising civic services.
The committee on transport will visit the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa in Gauteng to assess its overhaul programme and engage with the Road Accident Fund and the South African National Roads Agency on performance plans and budgets, while the standing committee on appropriations meets with National Treasury, Statistics South Africa and Reserve Bank officials to interrogate fiscal and economic planning.
From Tuesday to Thursday, the joint standing committee on defence and the portfolio committee on defence and military veterans will conduct oversight at sites in Johannesburg and KwaZulu-Natal, including Denel Aeronautics, Air Force Base Durban and Sandock Austral Shipyards, focusing on delays in defence infrastructure projects.
Oversight will extend to governance matters, with the standing committee on public accounts receiving briefings from the auditor-general on metropolitan audit outcomes and from the Special Investigating Unit on municipal investigations.
Update: April 28 2026
This article has been updated to remove deputy president Paul Mashatile convening a meeting on the government of national unity clearing house mechanism and his meeting with Pastor Makhubu. These events were listed on the Presidency’s calendar but are no longer taking place.
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