These are all of the newly-elected provincial Premiers in South Africa

South Africa’s nine provincial Premiers for the seventh administration were voted in by newly-inducted provincial legislature representatives between the 13th and 14th of June.

In the May 29th elections, six out of nine provinces had a party that received an outright majority. This meant their Premier candidates could take the lead in the provincial executive quite easily.

However, the appointments in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal, and to a lesser extent in the Northern Cape, were the result of rigorous inter-party horse-trading given the hung legislatures.

Gauteng: Panyaza Lesufi (ANC)

African National Congress (ANC) Gauteng chairperson Panyaza Lesufi was re-elected as Premier of South Africa’s economic hub unopposed at the legislature’s first sitting on 14 June, 2024.

Given that the ANC were unable to secure a majority in the province in the May 29th elections (34.76% of the provincial vote giving them 28/80 seats in the legislature), Lesufi’s appointment to head the province’s seventh administration was through the backing of partners set to form part of the Government of National Unity (GNU).

This was seen by the Democratic Alliance’s (DA’s) Mike Moriarty seconding his Premiership nomination.

The province is set to be governed through a ‘unity government’ consisting of various appointments from different political parties represented in the legislature.

This was seen to materlialse at the first sitting of the legislature, where the ANC’s Morakane Mosupyoe, who is the former Arts and Culture MEC in the province, was elected Speaker of the Gauteng Provincial Legislature in the same sitting, while the DA’s Refiloe Nt’sekhe was elected as Deputy Speaker

KwaZulu-Natal: Thami Ntuli (IFP)

Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) provincial chairperson Thami Ntuli was narrowly elected as the new Premier of South Africa’s second most populous province on 14 June.

Ntuli received 41 votes, while the uMkhonto we Sizwe (MK) candidate, deputy prime minister of the Zulu Royal House Inkosi Phathisizwe Chiliza, garnered 39 votes.

Tembe was elected with the support of the IFP, ANC, DA and National Freedom Party (NFP) – all of which are in a coalition for the province’s seventh administration.

The NFP, which has one seat in the provincial legislature, was seen as the crucial ‘swing vote’ for the GNU partners, with MK and Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) making up 39 out of the 80 seats in the legislature.

ANC’s Nontembeko Boyce was elected as the legislature’s Speaker, while DA’s Mmabatho Tembe was elected Deputy Speaker, with the same vote backing seen with the Premier.

Western Cape: Alan Winde (DA)

DA’s Alan Winde was re-elected as the Premier of the Western Cape on the 13 June, beating ANC’s Khalid Sayed 26 votes to 14 in the provincial legislature’s first sitting.

Winde’s re-election come after his party, the DA, bagged an outright majority of the provincial vote in the May 29th elections.

Additionally, DA MPL Daylin Mitchell was re-elected as the speaker of the provincial legislature, beating ANC MPL Ayanda Bans 26 votes to 12.

Northern Cape: Dr. Zamani Saul (ANC)

Northern Cape ANC chairperson Dr.Zamani Saul was re-elected Premier of the Northern Cape, beating DA provincial leader Izak Fritz 19 votes to 11 in the first sitting of the of the provincial legislature on 14 June.

Although the ANC failed to win an outright majority in the general election, with 49.34% of the vote and taking 15 of the 30 provincial legislature seats, the Freedom Front (FF) Plus and the Patriotic Alliance (PA), which have a combined four seats in the legislature, supported Saul to be Premier.

Although the FF Plus said that it will not be part of the provincial government, its sole MPL is eyeing a top position in the provincial legislature as well as have some concessions from the ANC for various demands the party had put forward.

ANC’s Newrene Klaaste was re-elected as Speaker with 19 votes from the 30 member chamber, while ANC’s Mangaliso Matika was elected as Deputy Speaker.

Limpopo: Dr. Phophi Ramathuba (ANC)

Former Limpopo MEC of Health, ANC’s Dr. Phophi Ramathuba, was elected as Premier of Limpopo for its seventh administration.

The ANC won a majority of the seats in the province’s legislature after receiving 73.30% of the votes in the recent general elections, and thus were able to easily get through their preferred candidate at the first legislature meeting on June 14

Ramathuba has become the province’s first female Premier.

ANC’s Makoma Makhurupetje was elected Speaker of the Limpopo Legislature unopposed, while fellow party leader Tebogo Mamorobela was elected the Deputy Speaker.

Eastern Cape: Oscar Mabuyane (ANC)

ANC Eastern Cape chairperson Oscar Mabuyane was re-elected as Premier of the province at the legislature’s first sitting on June 14th.

The ANC, which received 62.16% of the votes in the province, were able to smoothly get their candidates through the legislature’s first sitting.

ANC’s Helen Sauls-August was re-elected as speaker of the Eastern Cape legislature.

North West: Lazarus Mokgosi (ANC)

ANC’s deputy North West chairperson Lazarus Mokgosi, was elected as the Premier of the province at the legislature’s first sitting on June 14th.

With the ANC receiving a majority in the recent elections, they were able to successfully yield through all of their candidates for the top three positions.

The province’s former MEC for Agriculture and Rural Development, Desbo Mohono, was appointed the Speaker of the legislature, and the ANC’s provincial chair, Tshepo Khoza, will be her deputy.

Mpumalanga: Mandla Ndlovu (ANC)

ANC Mpumalanga provincial chairperson former MEC in the province, Mandla Ndlovu was elected unopposed at the first meeting of the provincial legislature on June 14.

Ndlovu will be replacing Refilwe Mtsweni-Tsipane, who has been tipped as the new chairperson of the National Council of Provinces.

Given the party’s outright majority in the province (51.15%), the ANCs candidates were able to get their way through with relative ease, with former mayor of the Govan Mbeki Municipality Lindi Masina elected as Speaker of the provincial legislature and Sam Masango as Deputy.

Free State: Maqueen Letsoha-Mathae (ANC)

ANC women’s league treasurer-general Maqueen Letsoha-Mathae was elected as Premier in the Free State at the first sitting of the provincial legislature in Bloemfontein on 14 June.

The ANC lost three seats in the provincial legislature, but still received a majority (51.87%) of votes in the general elections.

As such, they were also able to get their candidates for Speaker and Deputy through smoothly.

ANC’s Zanele Sifuba was re-elected as the Speaker of the Legislature, while Julia Maboya has been elected and sworn in as the Deputy Speaker.

Read: Government of National Unity: what the DA, ANC and IFP have agreed to