The Gauteng Provincial Legislature is the

legislature A legislature (, ) is a deliberative assembly with the legal authority to make laws for a political entity such as a country, nation or city on behalf of the people therein. They are often contrasted with the executive and judicial power ...

of the South African province of

Gauteng Gauteng ( , ; Sotho-Tswana languages, Sotho-Tswana for 'place of gold'; or ) is one of the nine provinces of South Africa. Situated on the Highveld, Gauteng is the smallest province by land area in South Africa. Although Gauteng accounts f ...

. It is a

unicameral Unicameralism (from ''uni''- "one" + Latin ''camera'' "chamber") is a type of legislature consisting of one house or assembly that legislates and votes as one. Unicameralism has become an increasingly common type of legislature, making up nearly ...

body of 80 members elected every five years. The current legislature, the seventh, was elected on 29 May 2024 and is a hung parliament with no overall majority for any party, with the

African National Congress The African National Congress (ANC) is a political party in South Africa. It originated as a liberation movement known for its opposition to apartheid and has governed the country since 1994, when the 1994 South African general election, fir ...

having lost its previous majority, but remaining the largest party with 28 members. The legislature is housed in

Johannesburg City Hall Johannesburg City Hall is an Edwardian building constructed in 1914 by the Hawkey and McKinley construction company. The plan for the building was drawn in 1910 and construction was started in 1913 and finished in 1914. The Gauteng Provincial Le ...

in central

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu language, Zulu and Xhosa language, Xhosa: eGoli ) (colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, Jo'burg or "The City of Gold") is the most populous city in South Africa. With 5,538,596 people in the City of Johannesburg alon ...

. The Gauteng Provincial Legislature, like the eight other provincial legislatures in South Africa, was created on 27 April 1994 by the

Interim Constitution of South Africa The Interim Constitution was the fundamental law of South Africa from during the first non-racial general election on 27 April 1994 until it was superseded by the final constitution on 4 February 1997. As a transitional constitution it requ ...

, which dissolved the four original provinces (and their provincial councils) and created the nine current

provinces A province is an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman , which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions outside Italy. The term ''provi ...

. It is currently constituted in terms of

Chapter Six of the Constitution of South Africa The Constitution of South Africa is the supreme law of the Republic of South Africa. It provides the legal foundation for the existence of the republic, it sets out the human rights and duties of its citizens, and defines the structure of the ...

, which defines the structure of the provincial governments. In February 2024, the number of allocated seats in the legislature was increased to 80 seats, the maximum number of seats allowed.

Powers

The Gauteng Provincial Legislature elects the

Premier of Gauteng The premier of Gauteng is the head of government of the Gauteng province of South Africa. The current Premier (South Africa), premier of Gauteng is Panyaza Lesufi, a member of the African National Congress, who was elected on 6 October 2022, fo ...

, the head of Gauteng's provincial executive. The legislature can force the Premier to resign by passing a

motion of no confidence A motion or vote of no confidence (or the inverse, a motion or vote of confidence) is a motion and corresponding vote thereon in a deliberative assembly (usually a legislative body) as to whether an officer (typically an executive) is deemed fi ...

. Although the Executive Council is selected by the Premier, the legislature may pass a motion of no confidence to compel the Premier to reshuffle the council. The legislature also appoints Gauteng's delegates to the

National Council of Provinces The National Council of Provinces (NCOP) is the upper house of the Parliament of South Africa under the post-apartheid constitution of South Africa, constitution which came into full effect in 1997. It replaced the former Senate of South Africa# ...

, allocating delegates to parties in proportion to the number of seats each party holds in the legislature. The legislature has the power to pass legislation in various fields specified in the national constitution; in some fields, the legislative power is shared with the

national parliament In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

, while in other fields it is reserved to the province alone. The fields include matters such as health, education (except universities), agriculture, housing, environmental protection, and development planning. The legislature oversees the administration of the Gauteng provincial government, and the Gauteng Premier and the members of the Executive Council are required to report to the legislature on the performance of their responsibilities. The legislature also manages the financial affairs of the provincial government by way of the

appropriation bill An appropriation bill, also known as supply bill or spending bill, is a proposed law that authorizes the expenditure of government funds. It is a bill that sets money aside for specific spending. In some democracies, approval of the legislature ...

s which determine the annual provincial budget.

Election

The provincial legislature consists of 80 members, who are elected through a system of

party list proportional representation Party-list proportional representation (list-PR) is a system of proportional representation based on preregistered political parties, with each party being allocated a certain number of seats roughly proportional to their share of the vote. I ...

with

closed list Closed list describes the variant of party-list systems where voters can effectively vote for only political parties as a whole; thus they have no influence on the party-supplied order in which party candidates are elected. If voters had some in ...

s. In other words, each voter casts a vote for one political party, and seats in the legislature are allocated to the parties in proportion to the number of votes received. The seats are then filled by members in accordance with lists submitted by the parties before the election. The legislature is elected for a term of five years, unless it is dissolved early. This may occur if the legislature votes to dissolve and it is at least three years since the last election, or if the Premiership falls vacant and the legislature fails to elect a new Premier within ninety days. By convention all nine provincial legislatures and the

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repr ...

are elected on the same day. The most recent election was held on 29 May 2024. The following table summarises the results. The following table shows the composition of the provincial parliament after past elections and floor-crossing periods.

Officers

The

Speaker Speaker most commonly refers to: * Speaker, a person who produces speech * Loudspeaker, a device that produces sound ** Computer speakers Speaker, Speakers, or The Speaker may also refer to: Arts and entertainment * "Speaker" (song), by David ...

is the political head of the legislature, and is assisted by a Deputy Speaker. The Speaker, Marakane Mosupyoe of the African National Congress, was elected on 14 June 2024. The following people have served as Speaker:

Members

* List of members of the 2nd Gauteng Provincial Legislature (1999–2004) *

List of members of the 3rd Gauteng Provincial Legislature The third Gauteng Provincial Legislature was elected in the 2004 South African general election, election of 14 April 2004. In that election, the African National Congress (ANC) retained its majority in the legislature, winning 51 of 73 seats. ...

(2004–2009) * List of members of the 4th Gauteng Provincial Legislature (2009–2014) * List of members of the 5th Gauteng Provincial Legislature (2014–2019) *

List of members of the 6th Gauteng Provincial Legislature This is a list of members of the sixth Gauteng Provincial Legislature, as elected in the election of 8 May 2019 and taking into account changes in membership since the election. The legislature dissolved at midnight on 28 May 2024 and was succee ...

(2019–2024)

References

External links

Official website
{{Authority control

Legislature A legislature (, ) is a deliberative assembly with the legal authority to make laws for a political entity such as a country, nation or city on behalf of the people therein. They are often contrasted with the executive and judicial power ...

Provincial legislatures of South Africa Unicameral legislatures