Last week, Wednesday 22 May 2019, Members of the Provincial Legislatures (MPLs) were sworn in. Presided over by the Judge Presidents for each province, the nine provincial legislatures also elected the Premiers of the
Last week, Wednesday 22 May 2019, Members of the Provincial Legislatures (MPLs) were sworn in. Presided over by the Judge Presidents for each province, the nine provincial legislatures also elected the Premiers of the province and Speakers and Deputy Speakers of the legislatures. The Premiers were inaugurated on 27 May 2019. You can find the political party representation on each of the legislatures here.
The Constitution outlines in Chapter 6 that the legislative authority of a province is vested in its provincial legislature. A province’s permanent delegates to the NCOP may attend and may speak in the provincial legislatures and its committees, but may not vote – the NCOP is constitutionally mandated to ensure provincial interests are taken into account in the national sphere of government. Each province sends 10 delegates to permanently represent the province in the national legislature. The NCOP is thus composed of 90 delegates. A provincial delegation consists of 6 permanent delegates and 4 special delegates. The four special delegates consist of the Premier of the province and three other special delegates assigned from members of the provincial legislature. They are selected by each province from Members of the Provincial Legislature (MPLs) and are rotated depending on the subject matter being considered by the NCOP. The Premier of a province is the head of the province’s delegation but he or she can select any other delegate to lead the delegation in his or her absence.
In terms of power