Gauteng legislature aims to increase its seats from 73 to 80

Speaker of the Gauteng legislature Ntombi Mekgwe wants to give the 13 million residents of the province seven extra representatives in the provincial parliament.

Mekgwe, tabling the legislature budget in Johannesburg this morning, says to do this, the legislature will embark on a process to amend the Electoral Act.

“As at the year 2016 the population of Gauteng was estimated at around 13 million, and in terms of the formula in the constitution and Electoral Act, the Gauteng provincial legislature should have been entitled to the maximum of seats being 80 as per applicable legislation,” Mekgwe said.

Mekgwe told members of the provincial legislature the act had limitations “on the determination of the number of seats of the provincial legislature”, and that it did not make provision for instances where there were population increases.