Opposition parties are united in fear as the floor-crossing period approaches, with many afraid that the African National Congress will once again swallow up their members.
The United Democratic Movement and the Inkatha Freedom Party appear to be the most vulnerable, with internal unhappiness rendering their representatives most likely to be poached.
The ANC is certain to gain new members, with the Independent Democrats and the Democratic Alliance saying they might also benefit.
The window period runs from September 1 to 15.
The UDM is on shaky ground again. The party was nearly decimated in the 2003 provincial and national floor-crossing period when it lost 10 of its 14 MPs.
And tension is palpable in the IFP where the old party hierarchy has rejected proposed reforms by MP Gavin Woods and national chairperson Ziba Jiyane. Woods drafted suggestions on how the party could arrest its decline and reform itself so as to attract new members. IFP leader Mangosuthu Buthelezi prevented the documents from even being discussed by the party.
Last weekend the IFP’s senior leadership suspended Jiyane for criticising autocratic tendencies in the party. The leadership said Jiyane was overheard saying that about 15 parliamentarians and members of the provincial legislature (MPLs) could leave the party during the floor-crossing period.
Jiyane denied making the remark and said he had not decided on his next step. He added that he had options to either quit the party, continue to fight from the inside, form a new party or join another party.
He did, however, confirm that he had considerable support within the IFP and was consulting his supporters before making a decision.
IFP secretary general Reverend Musa Zondi said that if the party got wind of possible defectors it would try to stop them.
“We have heard this rumour of Jiyane’s 15 supporters quitting, but we don’t know anything about it. But if they leave, they would have to continue to pay R3 000 every month to the party until the end of their term, which they all undertook to pay when they signed up as candidates before the elections.”
Zondi was scathing about the floor-crossing policy. “It encourages chequebook politics. The party that jingles the most coins is the one that attracts members from other parties. We worry that it will erode multi-party democracy in this country and we might end up with a one-party state,” he said.
UDM secretary general Elias Masango said that although all nine members of the National Assembly and other public representatives at provincial level had assured the party they would not quit, this was not a guarantee.
“They all say floor-crossing is out of the question, but the last time the 10 MPs who quit had also assured our president that they would not quit the party.”
The Independent Democrats’s secretary, Avril Harding, said the party was expecting to gain two MPs and two MPLs with whom the party had been in talks since last year. He did not want to name the provincial legislatures concerned, saying that might prejudice the members.
Harding said the newly formed United Party of South Africa would battle to get off the ground as its leaders are unknown. He added that some Democratic Alliance councillors were already preparing to stand as ID candidates in the upcoming local government elections in December or January.
The DA’s Douglas Gibson said there were a few MPs and MPLs who were talking to the party with the idea of joining. Gibson also spoke out against floor-crossing, saying it was affording the ANC an opportunity to “buy” members from other parties.
Head of the ANC parliamentary caucus, Mpho Lekgoro, said the party did not go out of its way to recruit public representatives from other parties. Instead, he said, they joined because of the way the party governs the country.