SA’s youngest MP makes over R100 000 per month
The Patriotic Alliance will have the youngest MP after confirming that 20-year-old Cleo Wilskut was selected to represent the party.
The Patriotic Alliance (PA) is set to have the two youngest MPs after confirming that 20-year-old Cleo Wilskut and 22-year-old Jasmine Petersen were selected to represent the party in parliament.
Wilskut and Petersen are set to fill two of the PA’s nine seats and will be sworn in as MPs on Friday, 14 June.
They pair will play a role in selecting South Africa’s new president, TimesLIVE reported.
PATRIOTIC ALLIANCE WAS ONE OF 18 PARTIES TO WIN SEATS
The PA won four regional and five national seats following the 2024 South Africa elections that took place on 29 May.
Wilskut is fill one of the party’s national seats, while Petersen is its sole Gauteng regional representative.
Wilskut turned 20 on 27 April, making her the youngest MP in South Africa’s history.
At the other end of the age spectrum, the oldest incoming MP is Democratic Alliance’s former Chief Whip and Caucus Leader for the North West Provincial Legislature, Christian Hattingh, who turned 76 on 2 June.
Following President Cyril Ramaphosa’s recent approval of below-inflation 2.5% salary hikes, MPs now earn R1.27 million a year (over R100 000 a month) making them among the highest paid South Africans.
Not bad for a 20-year-old!
Following the 2024 elections, the all-important regional and national 400 total seat allocation was confirmed.
In total, 18 parties won seats.
That was up from the 14 parties which won seats in 2019.
The African National Congress (ANC) saw their number of seats plummet from 230 to 159, below the ‘magical’ 201 mark which would’ve seen it retain sole power.
The Democratic Alliance (DA) improved from 84 seats in 2019 to 87 this time around.
The MK party were the big winners, going from zero to 58 seats, while the EFF dropped from 44 to 39.
The IFP also improved from 14 to 17 seats.
| Rank | Party | Regional | National | Seats |
| 1 | ANC | 86 | 73 | 159 |
| 2 | DA | 45 | 42 | 87 |
| 3 | MK party | 27 | 31 | 58 |
| 4 | EFF | 22 | 17 | 39 |
| 5 | IFP | 9 | 8 | 17 |
| 6 | PA | 4 | 5 | 9 |
| 7 | VF PLUS | 2 | 4 | 6 |
| 8 | ActionSA | 2 | 4 | 6 |
| 9 | ACDP | 0 | 3 | 3 |
| 10 | UDM | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| 11 | ATM | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| 12 | ALJAMA | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| 13 | BOSA | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| 14 | NCC | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 15 | RISE | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 16 | GOOD | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 17 | PAC | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 18 | UAT | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| TOTAL | 200 | 200 | 400 |
The 400-member parliament will be made up of 174 females (43.5%) and 226 males (56.5%).
The age range for the representatives is as follows:
| Age | Number |
| 20-29 | 12 |
| 30-39 | 67 |
| 40-49 | 110 |
| 50-59 | 110 |
| 60-69 | 90 |
| 70+ | 11 |
Below, the full list of the 400 elected national and regional representatives set to be sworn in on Friday, 14 March.