The Speaker of the National Assembly presides over the National Assembly of South Africa

National Assembly of South Africa

The National Assembly is the lower house of the Parliament of South Africa, located in Cape Town, Western Cape Province. It consists of no fewer than 350 and no more than 400 members...

, the lower house

Lower house

A lower house is one of two chambers of a bicameral legislature, the other chamber being the upper house.Despite its official position "below" the upper house, in many legislatures worldwide the lower house has come to wield more power...

 of the Parliament of South Africa

Parliament of South Africa

The Parliament of South Africa is South Africa's legislature and under the country's current Constitution is composed of the National Assembly and the National Council of Provinces....

. The speaker

Speaker (politics)

The term speaker is a title often given to the presiding officer of a deliberative assembly, especially a legislative body. The speaker's official role is to moderate debate, make rulings on procedure, announce the results of votes, and the like. The speaker decides who may speak and has the...

 is chosen from among the Members of the Assembly at its first sitting following a general election and whenever the office is vacant . The Speaker acts as a "referee

Referee

A referee is the person of authority, in a variety of sports, who is responsible for presiding over the game from a neutral point of view and making on the fly decisions that enforce the rules of the sport...

", 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

Parliament of South Africa

The Parliament of South Africa is South Africa's legislature and under the country's current Constitution is composed of the National Assembly and the National Council of Provinces....

 runs smoothly. Each political party in the Assembly elects a chief whip

Chief Whip

The Chief Whip is a political office in some legislatures assigned to an elected member whose task is to administer the whipping system that ensures that members of the party attend and vote as the party leadership desires.-The Whips Office:...

 to run its affairs. The presiding officers, the chief whips, and the Leader of Government Business

Leader of Government Business

The Premier of the Cayman Islands is the political leader and head of government. The post of Premier in the Cayman Islands is the equivalent to Chief Minister or Prime Minister in other British Overseas Territories. It is the highest political level that can be attained within the British colonial...

 (the person appointed by the Cabinet to liaise with Parliament) together decide on the programme of work.

The office of Speaker of the National Assembly was preceded by the offices of Speaker of the House of Assembly

House of Assembly

House of Assembly is a name given to the legislature or lower house of a bicameral parliament. In some countries this may be at a subnational level....

 (1910–1984) under the 1909 and 1961 constitutions and Speaker of Parliament under the Tricameral Parliament

Tricameral Parliament

The Tricameral Parliament was the name given to the South African parliament and its structure from 1984 to 1994, established by the South African Constitution of 1983...

 (1984–1994)

Speakers of the Cape House of Assembly (1854-1910)

• Sir Christoffel Brand
  Christoffel Brand
  Sir Christoffel Joseph Brand was a South African jurist, politician, statesman and first Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of the Cape Colony....
  
   (1854–1873)
• Sir David Tennant
  David Tennant (Cape politician)
  Sir David Tennant was a Cape politician, statesman and the second Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of the Cape Colony. He was in fact the longest serving parliamentary Speaker in South African history, holding the position for nearly 22 years.David Tennant was born in Cape Town on 10 January 1829...
  
   (1874–1895)
• Sir Henry Juta (1896–1898)
• Sir Bisset Berry (1899–1907)
• James Molteno (1908–1910)

Speakers of the House of Assembly (1910-1994)

#	Name	Took office	Left office	Political Party
1	James Tennant Molteno (from 1911, Sir James Tennant Molteno)	1910	1915	South African Party
2	Joel Krige	1915	1924	South African Party
3	Ernest George Jansen Ernest George Jansen Ernest George Jansen was the second-last Governor-General of the Union of South Africa, holding office from 1950 to 1959.Born in 1881, he graduated with a law degree from the University of the Cape of Good Hope in 1905, and was admitted as an advocate in 1913.An ardent champion of Afrikaner...  (1st time)	1924	1929	National Party National Party (South Africa) The National Party is a former political party in South Africa. Founded in 1914, it was the governing party of the country from 4 June 1948 until 9 May 1994. Members of the National Party were sometimes known as Nationalists or Nats. Its policies included apartheid, the establishment of a...
4	Jan Hendrick Hofmeyr de Waal	1929	1933	National Party National Party (South Africa) The National Party is a former political party in South Africa. Founded in 1914, it was the governing party of the country from 4 June 1948 until 9 May 1994. Members of the National Party were sometimes known as Nationalists or Nats. Its policies included apartheid, the establishment of a...
	Ernest George Jansen Ernest George Jansen Ernest George Jansen was the second-last Governor-General of the Union of South Africa, holding office from 1950 to 1959.Born in 1881, he graduated with a law degree from the University of the Cape of Good Hope in 1905, and was admitted as an advocate in 1913.An ardent champion of Afrikaner...  (2nd time)	1933	1944	National Party National Party (South Africa) The National Party is a former political party in South Africa. Founded in 1914, it was the governing party of the country from 4 June 1948 until 9 May 1994. Members of the National Party were sometimes known as Nationalists or Nats. Its policies included apartheid, the establishment of a... /United Party United Party (South Africa) The United Party was South Africa's ruling political party between 1934 and 1948. It was formed by a merger of most of Prime Minister Barry Hertzog's National Party with the rival South African Party of Jan Smuts, plus the remnants of the Unionist Party...
5	C.M. van Coller	1944	1948	United Party United Party (South Africa) The United Party was South Africa's ruling political party between 1934 and 1948. It was formed by a merger of most of Prime Minister Barry Hertzog's National Party with the rival South African Party of Jan Smuts, plus the remnants of the Unionist Party...
6	Jozua François Naudé Jozua François Naudé Jozua François Naudé served as Acting State President of South Africa from 1967 to 1968.A National Party politician for many years, he served as Minister of Posts and Telegraphs from 1950 to 1954, as Minister of Health from 1954 to 1958, and as Minister of Finance from 1958 to 1961...	1948	1950	National Party National Party (South Africa) The National Party is a former political party in South Africa. Founded in 1914, it was the governing party of the country from 4 June 1948 until 9 May 1994. Members of the National Party were sometimes known as Nationalists or Nats. Its policies included apartheid, the establishment of a...
7	J.H. Conradie	1951	1960	National Party National Party (South Africa) The National Party is a former political party in South Africa. Founded in 1914, it was the governing party of the country from 4 June 1948 until 9 May 1994. Members of the National Party were sometimes known as Nationalists or Nats. Its policies included apartheid, the establishment of a...
8	Henning J. Klopper	1961	1974	National Party National Party (South Africa) The National Party is a former political party in South Africa. Founded in 1914, it was the governing party of the country from 4 June 1948 until 9 May 1994. Members of the National Party were sometimes known as Nationalists or Nats. Its policies included apartheid, the establishment of a...
9	Alwyn Schlebusch Alwyn Schlebusch Alwyn Schlebusch was the only holder of the title Vice State President of South Africa from 1 January 1981 to 14 September 1984...	1974	1976	National Party National Party (South Africa) The National Party is a former political party in South Africa. Founded in 1914, it was the governing party of the country from 4 June 1948 until 9 May 1994. Members of the National Party were sometimes known as Nationalists or Nats. Its policies included apartheid, the establishment of a...
10	Jannie Loots	1976	1981	National Party National Party (South Africa) The National Party is a former political party in South Africa. Founded in 1914, it was the governing party of the country from 4 June 1948 until 9 May 1994. Members of the National Party were sometimes known as Nationalists or Nats. Its policies included apartheid, the establishment of a...
11	J.P. du Toit	1981	1983	National Party National Party (South Africa) The National Party is a former political party in South Africa. Founded in 1914, it was the governing party of the country from 4 June 1948 until 9 May 1994. Members of the National Party were sometimes known as Nationalists or Nats. Its policies included apartheid, the establishment of a...
12	Johan Greeff	1983	1986	National Party National Party (South Africa) The National Party is a former political party in South Africa. Founded in 1914, it was the governing party of the country from 4 June 1948 until 9 May 1994. Members of the National Party were sometimes known as Nationalists or Nats. Its policies included apartheid, the establishment of a...
13	Louis le Grange	1987	1991	National Party National Party (South Africa) The National Party is a former political party in South Africa. Founded in 1914, it was the governing party of the country from 4 June 1948 until 9 May 1994. Members of the National Party were sometimes known as Nationalists or Nats. Its policies included apartheid, the establishment of a...
14	Gene Louw Gene Louw Eugene Louw, born 15 July 1931, is a South African politician, member of the National Party, MP for Durbanville and Paarl, who was administrator for Cape Province , Minister of Home Affairs , National Education , Public Works and Defence in the de Klerk government.Louw retired from political...	1991	1994	National Party National Party (South Africa) The National Party is a former political party in South Africa. Founded in 1914, it was the governing party of the country from 4 June 1948 until 9 May 1994. Members of the National Party were sometimes known as Nationalists or Nats. Its policies included apartheid, the establishment of a...

Speakers of the National Assembly (1994-Present)

#	Name	Took office	Left office	Political Party
1	Frene Ginwala Frene Ginwala Frene Noshir Ginwala is a South African journalist and politician who was the Speaker of the National Assembly of South Africa from 1994 to 2004.Frene Ginwala is an Indian South African from the Parsi-Indian community of western India...  (f)	1994	2004	African National Congress African National Congress The African National Congress is South Africa's governing Africanist political party, supported by its tripartite alliance with the Congress of South African Trade Unions and the South African Communist Party , since the establishment of non-racial democracy in April 1994. It defines itself as a...
2	Baleka Mbete Baleka Mbete Baleka Mbete is the former Deputy President of South Africa. She was previously Speaker of the National Assembly of South Africa from 2004 to 2008....  (f)	2004	2008	African National Congress African National Congress The African National Congress is South Africa's governing Africanist political party, supported by its tripartite alliance with the Congress of South African Trade Unions and the South African Communist Party , since the establishment of non-racial democracy in April 1994. It defines itself as a...
3	Gwen Mahlangu-Nkabinde Gwen Mahlangu-Nkabinde Gwen Mahlangu-Nkabinde is a South African politician who was Speaker of the National Assembly of South Africa from 2008 to 2009. She became Deputy Speaker on 23 April 2004 and was later elected as Speaker on 25 September 2008; in the latter post, she succeeded Baleka Mbete, who was appointed as...  (f)	2008	2009	African National Congress African National Congress The African National Congress is South Africa's governing Africanist political party, supported by its tripartite alliance with the Congress of South African Trade Unions and the South African Communist Party , since the establishment of non-racial democracy in April 1994. It defines itself as a...
4	Max Sisulu Max Sisulu Max Sisulu is the current Speaker of the National Assembly of South Africa. He was elected to the position on 6 May 2009, succeeding Gwen Mahlangu-Nkabinde and becoming the first male post-apartheid speaker of the National Assembly. He is also the first Black male to become speaker.He is a member...  (m)	2009	Present	African National Congress African National Congress The African National Congress is South Africa's governing Africanist political party, supported by its tripartite alliance with the Congress of South African Trade Unions and the South African Communist Party , since the establishment of non-racial democracy in April 1994. It defines itself as a...

See also

• National Assembly of South Africa
  National Assembly of South Africa
  The National Assembly is the lower house of the Parliament of South Africa, located in Cape Town, Western Cape Province. It consists of no fewer than 350 and no more than 400 members...