The Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) has opened the door to an eleventh hour compromise with the African National Congress (ANC) to avoid forcing a provincial election in its powerbase of KwaZulu-Natal.
IFP national representative Musa Zondi told SABC radio that his telephone was on the hook for calls for compromise from the ANC in order to avoid a majority vote to dissolve the legislature — expected to take place in Pietermaritzburg shortly after 1100 this morning.
Responding to suggestions carried in the Sowetan, the black national daily newspaper, indicating that the ANC may be willing to compromise on crossing the floor legislation — the key bone of contention for the IFP — Zondi said: “This would constitute one of the reasonable things (to achieve compromise).”
“We will play the game of waiting,” he said, with less than two hours to go to reach a compromise. ANC representative Dumisani Makhaye was not available for comment, but if the ANC does have a compromise solution it must be delivered to the IFP before the legislature sits this morning. ANC national representative Smuts Ngonyama is expected to speak to national radio sometime this morning.
The IFP wants an election as it believes that its mandate to govern the province may be robbed by pending national legislation allowing for floor crossing by provincial politicians and national politicians. Last year it foiled a defection of five people in the legislature through a court challenge. The five lost their seats.
By dissolving the legislature, the IFP — with the help of the Democratic Alliance — will force an election and prevent floor crossing from occurring within the three month period in the run-up to the election. If the two parties win such an election — jointly they held over 50% of the vote in the 1999 election — it will strengthen their argument that floor crossing is against the democratic will of the province.
The possible compromise is that Justice Minister Penuell Maduna, from the ANC, will drop a clause in the proposed legislation protecting the five — effectively reinstating them. The legislation is pending to correct technical problems with previous legislation allowing floor crossing at national and provincial level.
The constitutional court found that local government crossing was constitutional — which led to a flurry of crossings by local government councillors last year — but that the legislation applying to national and provincial crossing was technically unconstitutional. – I-Net Bridge