Parliament of South Africa

Parliament of the Republic of South Africa List 10 other official names: Parlement van Suid-Afrika  (Afrikaans) iPalamende yeSewula Afrika  (Southern Ndebele) Palamende yomZantsi Afrika  (Xhosa) iPhalamende yaseNingizimu Afrika  (Zulu) iPhalamende yeNingizimu Afrika  (Swati) Palamente ya Afrika-Borwa  (Northern Sotho) Palamente ya Afrika Borwa  (Sotho) Palamente ya Aforika Borwa  (Tswana) Palamende ra Afrika Dzonga  (Tsonga) Phalamennde ya Afurika Tshipembe  (Venda)
26th South African Parliament
Type
Type	Bicameral
Houses	National Assembly National Council of Provinces
Leadership
Speaker of the National Assembly	Baleka Mbete, ANC Since 21 May 2014
Chairperson of the National Council of Provinces	Thandi Modise, ANC Since 22 May 2014
Structure
Seats	490 400 NA 90 NCOP
Political groups	13 African National Congress Democratic Alliance Economic Freedom Fighters Inkatha Freedom Party National Freedom Party United Democratic Movement Freedom Front Plus Congress of the People African Christian Democratic Party African Independent Congress Agang SA Pan Africanist Congress of Azania African People's Convention
Elections
Last election	7 May 2014
Meeting place
Houses of Parliament, Cape Town, Western Cape, Republic of South Africa
Website
www.parliament.gov.za

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.

It has undergone many transformations as a result of the country's torturous history. From 1910 to 1994, it was elected mainly by South Africa's white minority, before the first elections with universal suffrage were held in 1994.

The predecessor of the Parliament of South Africa, before the 1910 Union of South Africa, was the bicameral Parliament of the Cape of Good Hope. This was composed of the House of Assembly (the lower house) and the Legislative Council (the upper house). It dated back to the beginnings of Cape independence in 1853, and was elected according to the multi-racial Cape Qualified Franchise system, whereby suffrage qualifications were applied equally to all males, regardless of race.

The buildings of the Cape Parliament went on to house the Parliament of South Africa, after union.

When the Union of South Africa was established in 1910, the Parliament was bicameral and consisted of the King or the Queen, the Senate, and the House of Assembly (known in Afrikaans as the Volksraad).

The composition of Parliament was changed by constitutional amendments from time to time:

In a referendum held in 1960, a small majority of the white voters approved the conversion of the country from a Commonwealth Realm (formerly known before 1931 as a dominion) to a republic.

The Republic of South Africa was established in 1961. The only change made to the composition of the Parliament was the substitution of the State President for the Queen. A few significant changes were made later: