UNITED DEMOCRATIC MOVEMENT (UDM) president Bantu Holomisa on Friday accused the African National Congress (ANC) and Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) of holding Parliament hostage over the Immigration Bill.
The continued delay in finalising the bill was unacceptable, he said in a statement.
”The UDM rejects the fact that Parliament is being made the rubberstamp of the ANC and IFP who continue to bicker outside Parliament and thereby holding this institution hostage.”
Holomisa’s remarks follows news that high-level ANC and IFP delegations are to meet over the next few days to try bring the parties closer together on the controversial and much-delayed bill.
A meeting of the home affairs portfolio committee to finalise the bill on Thursday was postponed at the last minute because of the high-level consultations.
This followed eleventh-hour ANC amendments which detractors say are a radical departure from the original piloted by IFP leader and Home Affairs Minister Mangosuthu Buthelezi.
Buthelezi says he is keeping his options open and might even be forced to withdraw his bill.
Holomisa said ”the whole sorry mess” placed question marks over Cabinet’s decision-making, as it was Cabinet that approved the bill and sent it to Parliament.
”The latest interventions leaves one with the impression that the ANC and IFP are admitting the Cabinet were fools to pass the Bill in the first place.
”Their belated recognition of their error gives them no right to undermine Parliament, and ignore input from parties other than the IFP and ANC.”
The bill was necessary to bring vital skills in to the country, but this was taking a backseat to petty politics, he said.
Both Houses of Parliament are under pressure to pass the bill by June 2, the deadline set by the Constitutional Court for a new immigration law, after it found parts of the current Aliens Control Act unconstitutional.
The measure aims to help attract skilled foreigners to South Africa. ? Sapa