Mpumalanga Provincial Legislature will host the official swearing in of all new members who will make up the seventh democratically elected Legislature on Friday June 14.

This follows the declaration by the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) that the May 29 national and provincial elections were free and fair, and that the results were a true reflection of the people’s will.

The Provincial Legislature’s secretary, Hubert Shabangu, said the first sitting of the House that will be presided over by the judge president of the Mpumalanga High Court, Segopotje Sheila Mphahlele, they will also elect the premier, house speaker and deputy speaker.

The national and provincial elections marked the end of the sixth Provincial Legislature. The announcement and declaration of the elections results on June 2 call for further constitutional processes to be undertaken by this Legislature. Following the announcement of the final results and proportional allocation of seats to the various political parties, the chairperson of the IEC, Mosotho Moepya, submitted the list of the National Assembly and Provincial Legislature members to Chief Justice Raymond Zondo, who subsequently handed over the list to the secretary of the Parliament and secretaries of the Provincial Legislatures.

The Mpumalanga Provincial Legislature now has the duty to ensure that the process of the establishment of the seventh Legislature unfolds with precision.

Mphahlele designated preside over Mpumalanga  Provincial Legislature

He confirmed that Mphahlele has indeed been designated by Zondo to preside over the first sitting of the Provincial Legislature.

“It should be noted that the growth of the population in the province resulted in the increased number of seats allocated to this Legislature. The seats have increased from 30 to 51 members. This is a significant addition, which comes with added responsibility and calls for adjustment to the seating arrangements in the chamber and allocation of more office space to ensure that it caters for the additional 21 members,” he said.

The seventh Provincial Legislature will consist of six political parties compared to the previous administration, which only had four.

The ANC, which scored 51% of the votes, will retain its status as the ruling party and will be represented by 27 members in the Provincial Legislature. The MK Party, which attained 16% of the votes, comes in as the new official opposition party in the Provincial Legislature and will take nine seats. The third-biggest political party in the province, the EFF, which was the main opposition in the sixth administration, will take the third spot and has been allocated seven seats.

The DA will be in position four and will take up five seats.

Both the FF Plus and ActionSA will be represented by one member each.