The Western Cape legislature is forging ahead with its plan to increase the number of legislative seats.

The provincial legislature's legal unit briefed the Standing Committee on the Premier and Constitutional Matters on Friday about amending the Western Cape Constitution to increase the number of seats in the legislature.

Currently, the legislature has 42 members representing the people of the Western Cape.

The unit has proposed an amendment to Section 13 of the provincial constitution. It wants the legislature to consist of one seat for every 100 000 residents of the province but not exceeding 80 seats.

"The number of seats of the Provincial Parliament must be determined in the manner provided for in its rules and orders," the legal unit said.

The unit made a six-step recommendation for the necessary policy decisions to have the amendment signed by the premier by February 2024.

The proposal to increase the number of seats came after a report on the work of the legislature's ad-hoc committee on seat expansion was tabled in the legislature in December 2022.

The ad-hoc committee, which comprised 15 members from various political parties, and which consulted with the Electoral Commission of South Africa, recommended unanimously that the Western Cape constitution be amended to allow for the growth in population.

According to advocate Andre le Roux, senior legal advisor at the legislature, the committee can amend the constitution in many ways.

"Should the house resolve that Section 13 of the provincial constitution should be amended by referring to a formulaic approach, there will be an obligation on the legislature to review the number of seats every five years," he said.

African National Congress MPL Cameron Dugmore said: "We have to take the first step, and we need to report for the legislature, and we support the ad-hoc committee process. We need to kick-start this process."

GOOD MPL Shaun August previously said the provincial legislature could not carry the financial burden of expanding the number of seats.

"While the people are suffering, this government adopts a position to increase the seating capacity of the legislature to pay more politicians, dish out millions more in secretarial and constituency allowances, and all this at the cost of the already overburdened taxpayer who simply cannot carry it," he said.