High-level expulsions rocked the United Democratic Movement on Wednesday, just hours before the doors were to open for South African politicians to switch parties.
Bantu Holomisa expelled six of his senior members, including his deputy leader, Malizole Diko, with immediate effect on Wednesday. Cape High Court Judge Basheer Waglay reversed the suspensions of the six members on Tuesday, saying the UDM had not followed its own constitution.
The six members were suspended on August 5 because they were suspected of planning to defect to the ANC when the floor-crossing window opens at midnight on Wednesday.
The members were offered a choice between permanent redeployment and expulsion. Holomisa compromised, saying they had another option, to step down from their seats and be reinstated after the floor-crossing window closes. The six members rejected all of the proposals.
The floor-crossing window is open from September 1 to 15. The principles of floor-crossing are set out in the Constitution and give politicians the opportunity to cross the floor to another political party.
‘Voters vote for parties’
Steven Friedman, a political analyst, told the Mail & Guardian Online that ”people usually gravitate to parties who have the power”.
”Some of us think it [floor-crossing] is not a great idea, but it happens nevertheless. The trend is far more towards the governing party. It’s where the action is, so to speak,” he said.
Friedman believes the problem lies with what voters want.
”Voters don’t vote for people, they vote for parties,” he said. When a politician moves from one party to another, it is ”basically ignoring what the voters want”.
He predicted that one can ”certainly expect IFP [Inkatha Freedom Party] people leaving to the ANC [African National Congress] and Ziba Jiyane’s new party [the National Democratic Convention]”.
He added that he couldn’t see anyone defecting from the ANC and the Democratic Alliance to any other parties.
”There’s talk of some ID people going elsewhere and Themba Sono [going back to the DA]. Sono was there before … how many times are you going to leave and go back?”
Ashwin Desai, author, TV presenter and political activist, said: ”I’m completely against floor-crossing. It creates large levels of instability.
”In raising the issues of floor-crossing, we must raise the issues of constituency. Our democracy is unhealthy because it doesn’t have a mix of proportional and constituency-based [policies],” he said.
The UDM’s Holomisa told the M&G Online that he doesn’t ”have a clue” what’s going to happen during September’s window of opportunity.
”What the IFP, DA and the ANC do is their own indaba,” he said.
He had no further comment regarding the six expelled UDM members.
ANC’s prominence ‘will be confirmed’
Douglas Gibson, the DA’s chief whip, said: ”We would expect, at the end of the crossing-over period, that the prominent position of the ANC will be confirmed.”
”Politics in South Africa is moving more and more towards a governing party and a large opposition party,” he told the M&G Online. ”Some of the small parties run the risk of losing a significant number of people. The ANC, of course, has the big chequebook, or should I say the big gravy train, and is able to attract the people.”
He said the DA anticipates getting some ”good people” who will understand the party’s policies and principles.
”We are not anticipating losing anybody,” said Gibson, declining to comment further on which politicians he thought would be defecting to other parties in the Western Cape.
He added that the floor-crossing ”system is designed to assist the ANC”.
Helen Zille, national DA spokesperson, said in an interview with the M&G Online that the New National Party’s Piet Meyer was reported to be about to cross the floor to the United Party (UP), which was said to be contemplating a broad coalition with the DA.
She added that the ANC ”were so worried about that, that they offered him a consul-general post in Taiwan”.
”It was basically a bribe to stop him joining the UP,” said Zille.
Avril Harding, the chief whip of the ID, said: ”We know the ANC has secured their majority [in the Western Cape].
”Pierre Uys — he’s going to the ANC. Joyce Witbooi — he’s been offered the position of the deputy speaker of the Western Cape provincial legislature, and Kobus Dowry is also going to the ANC,” said Harding.
He said this means the ANC has the three legislature seats it needs in the bag, to bring it up to 22 out of the 42 seats.
”In terms of the other parties, everybody is still trying to negotiate positions and it’s a matter of wait and see.”
Harding believes the DA has a pipe dream to take control of the Western Cape legislature on September 1.
”Whatever they [the DA] are smoking, I don’t want a drag of it. I want a full bag to see the dreams and visions that they see.”
Harding said floor-crossing is ”a whole issue of chequebook politics” and that ”people get offered a position that they not qualified for”.
No comment from ANC
Hope Mankwana Papo, ANC provincial spokesperson for Gauteng, said: ”Our position on floor-crossing is that we are not commenting on the matter until September 1.”
He said the reason why the ANC doesn’t want to comment is because a party might get rid of a person suspected of wanting to switch before he or she can cross the floor.
Reverend Kenneth Meshoe, the leader of the ACDP, believes floor-crossing ”undermines the will of the voters as expressed in an election”.
”We have no expectations during the window period of September 1 to 15,” he said. ”The ACDP is on record as being opposed to floor-crossing. Floor-crossing promotes corruption, suspicion, disloyalty, disunity and political instability, among others.”
Meshoe feels floor-crossing ”is nothing but an opportunity for most MPs and MPLs to betray the parties that elected them”.