The floor crossing legislation, which allowed MPs and MPLs to defect to the party of their choice without losing their seats, is an indictment of South Africa’s democracy, KwaZulu-Natal agriculture and environmental affairs MEC Narend Singh said on Monday.
In a speech prepared for delivery in the legislature in Pietermaritzburg, he said the floor-crossing was an attempt to ”cruelly trick” the majority of the people in the province who had wanted to be led by the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP).
”The bulk of IFP support comes from the people who have been marginalised by history, many of them living today in grinding poverty and need.
”They are the people who were harshly treated by the colonial authorities and tricked out of their birthright. They are the same people who were even more harshly treated by apartheid and tricked out of even more rights,” Singh said.
They had voted enthusiastically when democracy dawned in 1994 to be a part of the new rainbow nation, and had done the same in 1999.
”But now it seems there have been attempts to cruelly trick them once again. Although they voted overwhelmingly for the IFP to represent their cause and lift them out of their poverty, there is a danger that their democratic choice is to be frustrated by political sleight of hand.
”It is as if somebody has decided that the vote of humble rural people does not really count. The whims of smart-aleck politicians, and their perks of office, weigh more heavily. What a terrible indictment of our democracy. What a sordid business,” he said.
Singh appealed to the legislature to put good governance and stability ahead of short-term party political or individual advantage.
After the 15-day window period for floor crossing, which ended on Friday, the 80-member provincial legislature is finely balanced, with the African National Congress now having 35 seats, the IFP 32 and the Democratic Alliance six.
The New National Party and the Minority Front have two each, and the United Democratic Movement, the African Christian Democratic Party , and the newly formed Peace and Development Party hold one seat each.
The IFP also lost two MPs to other parties in the National Assembly. ‒ Sapa