# 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 in the parliament. Thami Ntuli of the Inkatha Freedom Party was elected Premier of KwaZulu-Natal at the first sitting of the provincial legislature on 14 June 2024.

## Powers

The KwaZulu-Natal Legislature chooses the Premier of KwaZulu-Natal, the head of the KwaZulu-Natal provincial executive. The legislature can impel the Premier to resign by passing a motion of no confidence. Although the Premier appoints the members of the Executive Council, the legislature may pass a motion of no confidence to force the Premier to reshuffle the Council. The legislature also designates the KwaZulu-Natal's delegates to the National Council of Provinces, allocating delegates to parties in proportion to the number of seats each party holds in the legislature.
The legislature has the power to pass legislation in numerous fields set out in the national constitution; in some fields, the legislative power is shared with the national parliament, while in others it is reserved to the province alone. The fields include matters as health, education (except universities), agriculture, housing, environmental protection, and development planning.
The legislature oversees the administration of the KwaZulu-Natal provincial government, and the Premier of KwaZulu-Natal and the Executive Council members are required to report to the legislature on the performance of their responsibilities. The legislature also manages the financial affairs of the provincial government by way of the appropriation bills which determine the provincial budget.

## Election

The provincial legislature consists of 80 members, who are elected through a system of party list proportional representation with closed lists. In other words, each voter casts a vote for one political party, and seats in the legislature are allocated to the parties in proportion to the number of votes received. The seats are then filled by members in accordance with lists submitted by the parties before the election.
The legislature is elected for a term of five years, unless it is dissolved early. This may occur if the legislature votes to dissolve and it is at least three years since the last election, or if the Premiership falls vacant and the legislature fails to elect a new Premier within ninety days. By convention, all nine provincial legislatures and the National Assembly are elected on the same day.
The most recent election was held on 29 May 2024. The following table summarises the results.
| | uMkhonto we Sizwe | 1,590,813 | 45.35 | New | 37 | New |
| | Inkatha Freedom Party | 633,771 | 18.07 | 2.73 | 15 | 2 |
| | African National Congress | 595,958 | 16.99 | 27.23 | 14 | 30 |
| | Democratic Alliance | 468,515 | 13.36 | 0.54 | 11 | 0 |
| | Economic Freedom Fighters | 79,211 | 2.26 | 7.65 | 2 | 6 |
| | National Freedom Party | 19,548 | 0.56 | 1.01 | 1 | 0 |
| | Moodley Thanasagren Rubbanathan | 12,323 | 0.35 | New | 0 | New |
| | African Christian Democratic Party | 11,366 | 0.32 | 0.16 | 0 | 1 |
| | ActionSA | 9,569 | 0.27 | New | 0 | New |
| | Allied Movement for Change | 8,007 | 0.23 | New | 0 | New |
| | Patriotic Alliance | 7,843 | 0.22 | New | 0 | New |
| | African Transformation Movement | 6,477 | 0.18 | 0.31 | 0 | 1 |
| | Democratic Liberal Congress | 6,126 | 0.17 | 0.21 | 0 | 0 |
| | Al Jama-ah | 6,012 | 0.17 | 0.11 | 0 | 0 |
| | Freedom Front Plus | 5,638 | 0.16 | 0.15 | 0 | 0 |
| | Build One South Africa | 4,648 | 0.13 | New | 0 | New |
| | African People's Movement | 4,117 | 0.12 | New | 0 | New |
| | Rise Mzansi | 3,898 | 0.11 | New | 0 | New |
| | Pan Africanist Congress of Azania | 3,817 | 0.11 | 0.04 | 0 | 0 |
| | Justice and Employment Party | 3,626 | 0.10 | 0.13 | 0 | 0 |
| | Congress of the People | 3,615 | 0.10 | 0.04 | 0 | 0 |
| | Abantu Batho Congress | 3,214 | 0.09 | New | 0 | New |
| | People's Freedom Party | 3,162 | 0.09 | New | 0 | New |
| | Sizwe Ummah Nation | 2,731 | 0.08 | New | 0 | New |
| | United Democratic Movement | 2,565 | 0.07 | 0.03 | 0 | 0 |
| | African Independent Congress | 2,527 | 0.07 | 0.19 | 0 | 0 |
| | African Movement Congress | 2,049 | 0.06 | New | 0 | New |
| | Good | 2,005 | 0.06 | 0.05 | 0 | 0 |
| | Arise SA | 1,958 | 0.06 | New | 0 | New |
| | African People First | 1,007 | 0.03 | New | 0 | New |
| | Economic Liberators Forum South Africa | 679 | 0.02 | New | 0 | New |
| | All Citizens Party | 631 | 0.02 | New | 0 | New |
| | Africa Restoration Alliance | 629 | 0.02 | New | 0 | New |
| Total | Total | 3,508,055 | 100.00 | – | 80 | – |
| Valid votes | Valid votes | 3,508,055 | 98.88 | | | |
| Invalid/blank votes | Invalid/blank votes | 39,761 | 1.12 | | | |
| Total votes | Total votes | 3,547,816 | 100.00 | | | |
| Registered voters/turnout | Registered voters/turnout | 5,738,249 | 61.83 | | | |
| Source: Electoral Commission of South Africa |||||||
The following table shows the composition of the legislature after past elections and floor-crossing periods.
| Event | ACDP | ANC | DP/DA | EFF | IFP | MF | MK | NFP | NP/NNP | PAC | UDM | Others |
| 1994 election | 1 | 26 | 2 | — | 41 | 1 | — | — | 9 | 1 | — | 0 |
| 1999 election | 1 | 32 | 7 | — | 34 | 2 | — | — | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 2003 floor-crossing | 1 | 35 | 6 | — | 32 | 2 | — | — | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 2004 election | 2 | 38 | 7 | — | 30 | 2 | — | — | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 2005 floor-crossing | 1 | 40 | 5 | — | 27 | 2 | — | — | — | 0 | 1 | 4 |
| 2007 floor-crossing | 1 | 41 | 5 | — | 27 | 2 | — | — | — | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| 2009 election | 1 | 51 | 7 | — | 18 | 2 | — | — | — | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 2014 election | 0 | 52 | 10 | 2 | 9 | 1 | — | 6 | — | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2019 election | 1 | 44 | 11 | 8 | 13 | 1 | — | 1 | — | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 2024 election | 0 | 14 | 11 | 2 | 15 | — | 37 | 1 | — | 0 | 0 | 0 |

## Officers

The Speaker of the Legislature is Ntobeko Boyce, while the Deputy Speaker is Mmabatho Tembe. The following people have served as Speaker:
| Name | Entered Office | Left Office | Party |
| Bonga Mdletshe | 1998 | 2004 | IFP |
| Willies Mchunu | 2004 | 2009 | ANC |
| Peggy Nkonyeni | 2009 | 2013 | ANC |
| Lydia Johnson | 2013 | 2019 | ANC |
| Ntobeko Boyce | 2019 | Incumbent | ANC |