Section 268: Provincial and metropolitan councils

(1) There is a provincial council for each province and a metropolitan council for each metropolitan province, consisting of—

    (a) a chairperson of the council, elected in terms of section 272; and

    (b) the mayors and chairpersons, by whatever title they are called, of all urban and rural

local authorities in the province concerned; and

    (c) ten persons elected by a system of proportional representation referred to in subsection

(3).

(2) A person is qualified to be elected to a provincial or metropolitan council in terms of subsection (1)    (c) if she is qualified for election as a Member of the National Assembly.

(3) Elections to provincial and metropolitan councils must be conducted in accordance with the Electoral Law, which must ensure that the persons referred to in subsection (1)    (c) are elected under a party-list system of proportional representation—

    (a) which is based on the votes cast for candidates representing political parties in the

province concerned in the general election for Members of the National Assembly;

and

    (b) in which male and female candidates are listed alternately, every list being headed by a

female candidate.

(4) The seat of a member of a provincial or metropolitan council referred to in—

    (a) paragraph     (b) of subsection (1) becomes vacant if the member ceases to be a mayor or

chairperson of a local authority in the province concerned;

    (b) paragraph     (c) of subsection (1) becomes vacant in the circumstances set out in section

129, as if the member were a Member of Parliament.

[Section substituted by s. 17 of Act No. 2 of 2021, as corrected by SI 144 of 2023]