South Africa’s most active parties in Parliament

The Democratic Alliance has been the most active party in the national legislature in 2025, according to the number of meetings attended by its Members of Parliament and questions submitted to ministers.

As of the beginning of November, the DA’s 99 MPs in the National Assembly have attended 85% of all their meetings, significantly higher than the 67% average.

This is according to ParliMeter, a tool developed to track parliamentarians’ attendance and performance, and is co-funded by the European Union.

At the beginning of every administration, a caucus of parties meets to assign MPs to committees based on factors such as representation and committee size.

These MPs then attend committee meetings, plenary sessions when the entire National Assembly or National Council of Provinces meets, and joint sessions when both Houses meet.

ParliMeter states that of the 4,464 meetings to which DA MPs had the opportunity to attend, they were present at 3,810. Of these, DA MPs arrived late to 81 meetings and left early from 66.

This boils down to an average of 38 meetings per member.

The party was also very active in submitting questions to the minister, a means by which MPs hold the heads of portfolios accountable.

Five DA parliamentarians submitted more than 30 questions to ministers, with Hassina Ismail submitting 55, Michéle Clarke 40, and Chris Hattingh 36.

This is a significant amount given that only 50 of the 400 National Assembly MPs have submitted more than 20, and only 116 have submitted more than 10.

Second to the DA was National Assembly newcomers RISE Mzansi, which has two seats, with an attendance rate of 83%.

Of the 184 meetings that two MPs have had scheduled, they attended 152. On average, this works out to 76 meetings per member. Members arrived late to one meeting and left early from two.

RISE Mzansi MP Makashule Gana was ranked as the MP who had submitted the fourth-most written questions at 40. He is a member of the Portfolio Committee on Transport, as well as an alternate member of the Police and Trade, Industry, and Competition committees.

The African National Congress’s (ANC’s) 183 MPs attended 7,863 of their 9,752 meetings, an attendance rate of 81%.

This means that the party’s MPs attended an average of 43 meetings each. However, ANC MPs did not submit many questions to ministers.

According to ParliMeter, the ANC MP who submitted the most written questions to ministers was Sedukanelo Louw with six. Several have only submitted one question since the start of the seventh parliament, eighteen months ago.

The Economic Freedom Fighters were the fourth-most active party, attending 1,645 of its 2,123 meetings (77%). Its 47 MPs participated in an average of 35 meetings each.

Ngwanamakwetle Mashabela, an EFF MP, was also found to have submitted the most questions to ministers at 56. She is currently a member of the Portfolio Committee on Tourism.

On the other end of the spectrum is Build One South Africa, which has attended just over 50% of its 268 scheduled meetings (135).

However, its two MPs, Nobuntu Webster and Mmusi Maimane, attended an average of over 60 meetings each and submitted a combined 41 questions to ministers.

Other smaller parties also reported low attendance, including the United Democratic Movement (UDM) at 51%, the African Transformation Movement (ATM) at 52%, and the National Coloured Congress (NCC), which also reported a 52% attendance rate.

Despite also only having two MPs, the ATM and NCC had significantly fewer meetings scheduled, attending 58 and 71, respectively.