United Democratic Movement leader Bantu Holomisa has lambasted the Democratic Alliance after the defection of one of his MPs on Friday.
UDM finance spokesperson Martin Stephens became the first UDM MP to make use of the 15-day floor-crossing window to change parties without losing his seat. The window period opened on Thursday.
”The UDM has taken note of Mr M Stephens’s defection to the DA. The DA are opportunists and hypocrites of the worst order for claiming that floor-crossing is being abused by the ANC [African National Congress], yet they continue to actively seek floor-crossers,” Holomisa said.
”The DA should stop claiming they are opposed to the abuse of floor-crossing when they have actively assisted the ANC in passing this despicable legislation and to this day continue to use it to gain seats which the electorate never entrusted to them.”
The time has come for the Van Zyl Slabbert commission findings on the electoral system, which were ”suppressed” by the ANC, to be implemented because the floor-crossing is becoming an embarrassment to the nation.
”If there was a constituency-based electoral system that triggered by-elections when public representatives defected, then people like Mr Stephens and any other fortune-seekers or gold-diggers would have to face their voters.
”In the meanwhile, as long as we persist with a proportional representation electoral system, floor-crossing must be banned,” Holomisa said.
DA chief whip Douglas Gibson said: ”We welcome [Stephens] and his endorsement of the DA’s vision to build a real alternative to the ANC.
”Mr Stephens brings with him a considerable wealth of financial and legal knowledge and experience. Back in the 1970s, he was the youngest MP in South Africa when he won the Johannesburg constituency of Florida from the National Party.
”We are only prepared to accept new MPs and MPLs who share our vision of a principled opposition force, which can present a real alternative to the ANC.
”Those who accept our principles, our vision for a better South Africa and our discipline are welcome; opportunists are not,” Gibson said. — Sapa