Since May 2019, the

KwaZulu-Natal Legislature The KwaZulu-Natal Legislature is the primary legislative body of the South African province of KwaZulu-Natal. It is unicameral in its composition and elects the premier and the provincial cabinet from among the leading party or coalition members i ...

, official legislature of the

KwaZulu-Natal KwaZulu-Natal (, also referred to as KZN and known as "the garden province") is a province of South Africa that was created in 1994 when the Zulu bantustan of KwaZulu ("Place of the Zulu" in Zulu) and Natal Province were merged. It is locate ...

province of

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

, has consisted of 80 members from 8 different political parties, elected on 8 May 2019 in the 2019 South African general election. The ruling

African National Congress The African National Congress (ANC) is a Social democracy, social-democratic political party in Republic of South Africa, South Africa. A liberation movement known for its opposition to apartheid, it has governed the country since 1994, when ...

(ANC) retained its majority in the legislature by earning a total of 44 seats, a loss of eight seats from the previous legislature. The

Inkatha Freedom Party The Inkatha Freedom Party ( zu, IQembu leNkatha yeNkululeko, IFP) is a right-wing political party in South Africa. The party has been led by Velenkosini Hlabisa since the party's 2019 National General Conference. Mangosuthu Buthelezi founded t ...

(IFP) (13 seats) regained the title of official opposition, after losing it to the Democratic Alliance (DA) in the 2014 general election. The DA now holds 11 seats, one more than it held in the previous legislative session, and is the third largest party. The

Economic Freedom Fighters The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) is a South African left-wing to far-left pan-Africanist and Marxist–Leninist political party. It was founded by expelled former African National Congress Youth League (ANCYL) President Julius Malema, and hi ...

(EFF) occupy 8 seats, a gain of six from the previous election. Four political parties, including the

National Freedom Party The National Freedom Party (NFP) is a South African political party. It was launched on 25 January 2011 by Zanele kaMagwaza-Msibi, former chairperson of the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP), along with other former IFP members. Election results ...

(NFP),

Minority Front The Minority Front is a political party in South Africa. The party represents all minorities of South Africa, however, its support comes mainly from the South African Indian community. Its voter base is in the province of KwaZulu-Natal. The e ...

(MF),

African Transformation Movement The African Transformation Movement, popularly known as ATM, is a political party in South Africa. It is led by Vuyolwethu Zungula, leader and party president. It was formed with the backing of the South African Council of Messianic Churches in ...

(ATM) and

African Christian Democratic Party African or Africans may refer to: * Anything from or pertaining to the continent of Africa: ** People who are native to Africa, descendants of natives of Africa, or individuals who trace their ancestry to indigenous inhabitants of Africa *** Ethn ...

(ACDP), each hold one seat. Members of the Provincial Legislature (MPLs) are elected through a system of

party-list proportional representation Party-list proportional representation (list-PR) is a subset of proportional representation electoral systems in which multiple candidates are elected (e.g., elections to parliament) through their position on an electoral list. They can also be us ...

with

closed list Closed list describes the variant of party-list systems where voters can effectively only vote for 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 inf ...

s. This means that each voter casts a vote for one political party, and seats in the legislature are assigned to the parties in proportion to the number of votes they received. The seats are then filled by members by lists acceded by the parties before the election. Members of the 6th Provincial Legislature took office on 22 May 2019. During the first sitting, Ntobeko Boyce was elected as the new Speaker with

Mluleki Ndobe Mluleki Ezekiel Ndobe (died 6 November 2020) was a South African educator and African National Congress politician who served as the deputy speaker of the KwaZulu-Natal Legislature from 2019 until his death in 2020. Before joining the provincial ...

as the new Deputy Speaker, while

Sihle Zikalala Sihle Zikalala (born 6 August 1973) is a South African politician from KwaZulu-Natal who has been a Member of the National Assembly of South Africa since 2023, representing the African National Congress. Before his redeployment to the National P ...

was elected Premier. They are all members of the ANC.

Velenkosini Hlabisa Velenkosini Fiki Hlabisa (born 4 January 1965) is a South African politician and former teacher who has been President of the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) and the Leader of the Opposition in the KwaZulu-Natal Legislature since 2019. He served as t ...

of the IFP assumed the role of Leader of the Opposition.

Composition

This is a graphical comparison of party strengths as they are in the 6th KwaZulu-Natal Legislature. South Africa KwaZuluNatal Legislative 2019

*Note this is not the official seating plan of the KwaZulu-Natal Legislature. , -style="background:#e9e9e9;" !colspan="2" style="text-align:left", Party !! style="text-align:center", Seats , - , , , 44 , - , , , 13 , - , , , 11 , - , , , 8 , - , , , 1 , - , , , 1 , - , , , 1 , - , , , 1 , - , colspan="2" style="text-align:left", Total , , style="text-align:right", 80

Members

This table depicts the list of members of the 6th KwaZulu-Natal Legislature, as elected in the election of 8 May 2019 and sworn in on 22 May 2019 and taking into account changes in membership since the election. It consists of the members' names, parliamentary group and position. There was high turnover in the ANC caucus. Early in the legislative term in 2019, three MPLs –

Mxolisi Kaunda Thomas Mxolisi Kaunda (born 13 September 1972) is a South African politician from KwaZulu-Natal serving as the Mayor of the eThekwini Metropolitan Municipality since 2019. He was the KwaZulu-Natal MEC for Transport, Community Safety and Liaison ...

, Mthandeni Dlungwana, and Weziwe Thusi – resigned from the legislature; they were replaced by the next three ANC members on the party list: Nozipho Mavuso, Themba Mtshali, and Lusiwe Ngubane. In 2020,

Ricardo Mthembu Njabulo Ricardo Mthembu (1970 – 8 July 2020) was a South African politician. Career He was a member of the African National Congress and a representative of the party in the KwaZulu-Natal Legislature from 2019 to 2020. Mthembu served on the l ...

and

died and were replaced by

Zandile Gumede Zandile Ruth Thelma Gumede (born 12 May 1961) is a South African who has been serving as a Member of the KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Legislature since 2020. She served as the Executive Mayor of the eThekwini Metropolitan Municipality from 2016 unti ...

and Hlobisile Dlamini respectively. In early 2021,

Bridget Ntshangase Bridget Nompumelelo "Mpume" Ntshangase (died 31 January 2021) was a South African politician who represented the African National Congress (ANC) in the KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Legislature from May 2019 until her death in January 2021. Former ...

and

Bheki Ntuli Muntukayise Bhekuyise Ntuli (24 December 1957 – 16 January 2021) was a South African politician. A member of the African National Congress, he served as a Member of the National Assembly of South Africa from 1999 to 2003, when he resigned amid ...

died; they were replaced by Mpumelelo Zulu and Phumlile Zulu in late February. Finally,

Ravi Pillay Ravigasen Ranganathan "Ravi" Pillay (born 18 November 1958) is a South African attorney and African National Congress (ANC) politician who served as the Member of the Executive Council for Economic Development, Tourism and Environmental Affairs i ...

resigned in August 2022 and was replaced by Ntuthuko Mahlaba later the same month. On the opposition benches, former members include Chris Pappas (resigned in 2021),

Mbali Ntuli Mbali Ntuli (born ) is a South African politician and a former member of the Democratic Alliance. She is the former Provincial Campaigns Director for the party in KZN. She resigned as a member of the KwaZulu-Natal Legislature in March 2022, wh ...

(resigned in 2022), Zwakele Mncwango (resigned in 2022), Rishigen Viranna (resigned in 2022), and Hlanganani Gumbi (resigned in 2023).

References

{{Reflist

External links

Members – KZN Legislature

Legislature A legislature is an assembly with the authority to make law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its p ...