The provincial governments are structured according to a parliamentary system in which the executive is dependent on and accountable to the legislature. In each province the provincial legislature is directly elected by proportional representation, and the legislature in turn elects one of its members as Premier to head the executive. The Premier appoints an Executive Council (a cabinet), consisting of members of the legislature, to administer the various departments of the provincial administration.
The powers of the provincial governments are circumscribed by the national constitution, which limits them to certain listed "functional areas". In some areas the provincial governments' powers are concurrent with those of the national government, while in other areas the provincial governments have exclusive powers. The constitution prescribes a principle of "co-operative government" whereby the various layers of government must co-ordinate their actions and legislation; it also lays down a series of rules for resolving conflicts between national and provincial legislation.
Legislature
Johannesburg City Hall, now the seat of the Gauteng Provincial Legislature
Each province has a unicameral provincial legislature, varying in size from 30 to 80 members depending on the population of the province. The members of the provincial legislature are elected by party-list proportional representation for a usual term of five years, although under certain circumstances the legislature may be dissolved before its term expires. By convention elections to the provincial legislatures are held on the same day as elections to the National Assembly; the most recent such election was held on 8 May 2019. At that election the African National Congress (ANC) won a majority in eight of the provinces, while the Democratic Alliance (DA) won a majority in the Western Cape.
The head of the provincial executive is the Premier, who is elected by the provincial legislature from amongst its members; frequently the Premier will be the provincial leader of the majority party. The term of office of the Premier is the same as that of the legislature (normally five years) with a term limit of two terms. The legislature can force the resignation of the Premier by a motion of no confidence. If the Premiership is vacant and the legislature fails to elect a new Premier within 30 days, the legislature is dissolved and an election is called.
As of February 2023[update] the nine Premiers are:
The Premier appoints an Executive Council (a cabinet) of five to ten members of the provincial legislature. The Members of the Executive Council (or MECs) are responsible for the various departments of the provincial administration. Because the responsibilities of the provincial governments are limited to those listed in the constitution, the portfolios are quite similar across the provinces. Common MEC portfolios and departmental responsibilities include:
South Africa has a single national court system, and the administration of justice is the responsibility of the national government. At present the jurisdictional boundaries of the High Courts do not correspond entirely with the provincial boundaries; the Superior Courts Bill currently before Parliament will rationalise the courts so that there is a single High Court division in each province.
The provincial executive does play a role in the selection of High Court judges, as the Premier of a province is ex officio a member of the Judicial Service Commission when it deals with matters relating to a High Court that sits in that province.
Provincial constitutions
A provincial legislature can, by a two-thirds majority vote, adopt a constitution for the province; it is not necessary to do so, as the national constitution provides a complete structure for provincial government. A provincial constitution must be consistent with the national constitution except that it can provide for different structures and procedures for the executive and the legislature.
The only province that has adopted a constitution is the Western Cape; in doing so it chose to rename its legislature the Provincial Parliament. It also calls its Executive Council the Provincial Cabinet, and the MECs are called Provincial Ministers.
South Africa is divided into nine provinces. On the eve of the 1994 general election, South Africa's former homelands, also known as Bantustans, were reintegrated, and the four existing provinces were divided into nine. The twelfth, thirteenth and sixteenth amendments to the Constitution of South Africa changed the borders of seven of the provinces.
Municipal elections were held in South Africa on 1 March 2006, to elect members to the local governing councils in the municipalities of South Africa. The municipalities form the local government of South Africa and are subdivisions of the provinces, thus making them responsible for local service delivery, such as electricity, water and fire services.
In South Africa, a provincial legislature is the legislative branch of the government of a province. The provincial legislatures are unicameral and vary in size from 30 to 80 members, depending on the population of the province. Each legislature is chaired by a Speaker and a Deputy Speaker.
The Premier of Gauteng is the head of government of the Gauteng province of South Africa. The current Premier of Gauteng is Panyaza Lesufi, a member of the African National Congress, who was elected on 6 October 2022, following the resignation of David Makhura.
Chupu Stanley Mathabatha is a South African politician who is currently the Premier of Limpopo. He was elected to the position in July 2013 after the resignation of Cassel Mathale. He was previously a public servant in Limpopo province and from 2012 to 2013 completed a brief stint as a diplomat, serving as South African Ambassador to Ukraine under President Jacob Zuma.
Qedani Dorothy Mahlangu is a South African politician who served continuously in the Gauteng Executive Council from 2004 to 2017. She is best known for her tenure as Gauteng's Member of the Executive Council (MEC) for Health from 2014 to 2017, when she presided over the Life Esidimeni scandal. In February 2017, she resigned from the Executive Council and from the Gauteng Provincial Legislature after the Health Ombud, Malegapuru Makgoba, released a report which implicated her in the scandal.
The Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) announced on 20 March 2019 that a record number of 48 parties had registered candidates for the national parliamentary election. This is 19 more parties that contested the 2014 national elections. In the provincial legislature elections, the total number of parties registering candidates were:
Tasneem Motara is a South African politician who has been the Gauteng MEC for Economic Development since 2022 and a member of the Gauteng Provincial Legislature since 2019. She was the MEC for Infrastructure Development and Property Management between May 2019 and October 2022. From May 2014 to May 2019, she represented Gauteng in the National Council of Provinces. She served as the chief whip of the provincial delegation. Motara is a member of the African National Congress.
Mavhungu Maureen Lerule-Ramakhanya is a South African politician. A member of the African National Congress, Lerule-Ramakhanya is a former mayor of the Vhembe District Municipality. She was elected as a Member of the Limpopo Provincial Legislature in May 2019. She was then elected as the speaker of the legislature. In March 2020, Lerule-Ramakhanya was appointed as the Member of the Executive Council (MEC) for Transport and Community Safety. She was moved to the Education portfolio of the executive council in June 2022.
Faith Nonhlanhla Mazibuko is a South African politician from Gauteng. She is the current Member of the Executive Council (MEC) for Community Safety. She has been a Member of the Gauteng Provincial Legislature from 1996 to 2004 and currently from 2009. Mazibuko is a member of the African National Congress.
Bekizwe Simon "Bheki" Nkosi is a South African politician who current represents the African National Congress (ANC) as a Member of the National Assembly since 2019. An attorney by training, he was formerly a Member of the Gauteng Provincial Legislature from 1997 to 2012 and he served on the Gauteng Executive Council from 2009 to 2012. He was the deputy president of the ANC Youth League from 1994 to 1996.
Motlalepula Ziphora Rosho is a South African politician. A member of the African National Congress, she was elected deputy speaker of the North West Provincial Legislature in 2010. In 2012 she was appointed as the Member of the Executive Council (MEC) for Economic Development, Environment, Conservation and Tourism in the North West Provincial Government. Rosho was discharged from the executive council in 2014 and then served in the provincial legislature as a committee chairperson until December 2018, when she returned to the executive as MEC for Local Government and Human Settlement. Rosho was appointed as MEC for Finance after the 2019 elections.
Matodzi Mirriam Ramadwa is a South African politician. A member of the African National Congress, she was elected to the Limpopo Provincial Legislature in 2009. In 2013, she was appointed as the Member of the Executive Council (MEC) for Sports, Arts and Culture. Ramada was elected as the speaker of the provincial legislature in 2014. In 2015, she resigned as speaker. Ramadwa was elected to the National Assembly of South Africa in 2019.
The Provincial Executive Committees (PECs) of the African National Congress (ANC) are the chief executive organs of the party's nine provincial branches. Comprising the so-called “Top Five” provincial officials and up to 30 additional elected members, each is structured similarly to the party's National Executive Committee (NEC) and is elected every four years at party provincial conferences.
Namane Dickson Masemola is a South African politician who has been a Delegate to the National Council of Provinces since October 2022. Between 2009 and 2022, he was a Member of the Provincial Legislature in the Limpopo provincial government, representing the African National Congress (ANC), and held a variety of positions in the Limpopo Executive Council.
The Executive Council of Gauteng is the cabinet of the executive branch of the provincial government in the South African province of Gauteng. The Members of the Executive Council (MECs) are appointed from among the members of the Gauteng Provincial Legislature by the Premier of Gauteng, an office held since October 2022 by Panyaza Lesufi.
The Executive Council of Limpopo is the cabinet of the executive branch of the provincial government in the South African province of Limpopo. The Members of the Executive Council (MECs) are appointed from among the members of the Limpopo Provincial Legislature by the Premier of Limpopo, an office held since July 2013 by Stan Mathabatha.
Nandi Annah Ndalane is a South African politician who has served in the Limpopo Executive Council since 2014 and in the Limpopo Provincial Legislature since 1999. She is currently serving, since October 2022, as Member of the Executive Council (MEC) for Social Development.
Blessing Thandi Shongwe is a South African politician who is currently serving as Mpumalanga's Member of the Executive Council (MEC) for Culture, Sport and Recreation. She formerly served as Speaker of the Mpumalanga Provincial Legislature from 2014 until March 2018, when she was first appointed to the Mpumalanga Executive Council. She is a member of the African National Congress (ANC).
Moses Siphosezwe Amos Masango is a South African politician who represented the African National Congress (ANC) in the National Assembly from 2014 to 2019, during which time he chaired the Portfolio Committee on International Relations and Cooperation. Before that, he served in the Mpumalanga Provincial Legislature and also sat on the Mpumalanga Executive Council.
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