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Parliament has appointed Mr Michael Coetzee as Secretary to Parliament, the institution’s top official and its accounting officer, for a five-year period.

On 23 October the National Assembly, on a motion from the Chief Whip of the Majority Party, unanimously approved the appointment of Mr Coetzee on the recommendation from the Speaker of the National Assembly and the Chairperson of the National Council of Provinces.

The National Council of Provinces today also approved the recommendation.

Before he joined Parliament as Deputy Secretary in 2002, Mr Coetzee was Provincial Secretary of the Gauteng Legislature for four years.

Before that he had worked as Human Resources Manager of Parliament and also as deputy Personnel Manager and Industrial Relations Manager at the University of the Western Cape for a number of years.

During apartheid rule, Mr Coetzee was active in the anti-apartheid struggle led by the African National Congress and was detained for his activities during this time.

He also worked in the trade union movement – as an organiser for the Congress of South African Trade Unions-affiliated Chemical Workers’ Industrial Union and then as head of the Western Cape Workers’ College – a labour movement initiative based at the University of the Western Cape.

In March this year Mr Coetzee was appointed Acting Secretary to Parliament, following the placing on special leave of then-Secretary to Parliament Mr Zingile Dingani. Mr Dingani was subsequently dismissed in September.

Mr Coetzee's work ethic, experience, competence and commitment to the institution of Parliament are beyond reproach. This was evident throughout the time that he worked as Deputy Secretary to Parliament and during the seven months that he was Acting Secretary to Parliament this year.

The unanimous resolution by both the NA and the NCOP to approve the recommendation from the Presiding Officers of the two Houses to appoint him as Secretary to Parliament is clear acknowledgement of this fact by all the political parties represented in Parliament.

Mr Coetzee’s appointment as Secretary to Parliament takes effect on 1 November.