Confusion reigned on Friday as political parties differed on the effect of a temporary interdict by the Cape High Court on floor-crossing legislation, with control of KwaZulu-Natal hinging on which interpretation would ultimately prove correct.
Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) MPL Mike Tarr and his colleague Maurice Mackenzie and Democratic Alliance (DA) MPLs Belinda Scott and Tim Jeebodh announced on Friday they had switched allegiance to the African National Congress (ANC) in KwaZulu-Natal.
To further complicate matters MacKenzie and Tarr were among five IFP MPLs who were about to be redeployed to the National Assembly by the IFP.
ANC provincial leader S’bu Ndebele said the four MPLs had crossed the floor in line with the defection legislation which he insisted had come into effect at midnight on Thursday.
He claimed the interim interdict halting the defection window period would only bind the Western Cape and not any of the other provinces.
The ANC has now gained four seats. By co-operating with the Minority Front, the ANC will have the majority of 41 seats in the 80-member legislature.
This could also result in a provincial cabinet post for the New National Party (NNP) in line with its co-operation deal with the ANC at all three levels of government.
However, DA provincial leader Roger Burrows disagreed. He said the temporary interdict did apply to all provinces, and those MPLs who had joined the ANC had forfeited their seats because they had jumped the gun and were not protected by the law.
If Burrows is correct, co-operation between the DA and the IFP would see the two parties with a majority of 41 in the legislature. Both already co-operate at local level and recently sealed a non-aggression pact in which they agreed not to poach each other’s members.
Judge Hennie Nel late on Thursday night granted the United Democratic Movement (UDM) an urgent interdict freezing the defection period pending a judgement of a full bench of the Cape High Court.
Judge President John Hlophe, his deputy Jaenette Traverso and Judge Deon van Zyl, will hear on Monday the UDM’s urgent application against the defection laws gazetted on Thursday. Only then can clarity be expected.
However, both the DA and the NNP said those of its members who had jumped the gun would not be axed for wishing to defect to another party.
In terms of the defection legislation MPs, MPLs and local councillors wishing to cross the floor can do so during a special window period and not lose their seats.
During such time they are protected from party discipline, but should they act outside this period they would automatically lose their seats. The window period was to have begun at midnight, Thursday.
The names of DA councillors Werner Schwella, Gawa Samuels, Maarjie Ellman and Achmat Brinkhuis were published in the NNP’s latest list of candidates for the Western Cape legislature.
However, Achmat said his name appeared there in error and that he remained committed to the DA and would not defect to the NNP.
The ANC/NNP is trying to oust the DA and only needs 24 DA councillors to defect to gain control of the Cape Town unicity. DA’s unicity caucus leader Danny de la Cruz said there were councillors who had intimated they would be leaving and that the DA would not act against them.
NNP MP Charles Redcliffe who also acted prematurely by telling his party he would defect to the DA, will also not face action from his party.
NNP executive director Renier Schoeman said: ”No. We have always believed that a person’s choice of party is a matter of conscience”.
Meanwhile, presidential representative Bheki Khumalo was criticised by the UDM during Friday’s Parliamentary sitting for allegedly misleading the public and sowing confusion.
Khumalo earlier issued a statement saying that the Cape High Court interdict was only binding on the Western Cape and that the defection period could continue in other provinces.
Deputy Head of Law at the University of the Western Cape Jeremy Sarkin said : ”Certainly the interdict applies to the whole country. There’s no doubt about that point of law”. – Sapa