No changes to South Africa’s floor-crossing legislation — which allows a window period for members of the National Assembly and the nine legislatures to switch political allegiances — are envisaged, Deputy Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development Johnny de Lange said on Thursday.
Speaking at a briefing to the media at Parliament, he said he does not sense that the electorate is ”fed up” with the process. The floor-crossing period started on September 1 and ends on September 15.
De Lange, however, acknowledged that there is a perception that defections by politicians cheapen the political process and one also ”has to be careful about opportunism”, the dangling of positions to people to get them to cross.
He said that to change the system again — originally it required just one member of a party to cross to another party, but now it requires a member to constitute 10% of his or her party’s caucus — ”could be problematic”.
He said the government is not reviewing the system at present.
”We need to be careful not to jump from one system to the next,” he said.
Minister of Safety and Security Charles Nqakula, however, called on journalists to read the editorials of their media groups at the time of changing the legislation. The ruling African National Congress was accused of thwarting the process of individual choice by parliamentarians by not allowing them to defect.
Now that the system has been put in place and it has benefited the ANC, there are murmurings again but, he said, ”the opposition created this monster”.
There has already been a number of crossings — including five Inkatha Freedom Party members to the National Democratic Convention and five members of the New National Party to the ANC — in the Assembly during the window period.
The IFP have declared crossers as ”crosstitutes”.
The African Christian Democratic Party said in a statement on Thursday that it regrets the floor-crossing of Selby Khumalo and Mighty Madasa, ”both respected and valued members of the ACDP”.
”Their decision however, does not reflect the will of the voters who gave the ACDP the mandate for their two seats.
”Once again, this illustrates the undemocratic and unprincipled legislation that allows floor-crossing. The ACDP has always opposed this political aberration, which disenfranchises the public. We again call for the scrapping of floor-crossing legislation, which cripples multiparty democracy and diminishes our fragile, hard-won freedom,” the ACDP said. — I-Net Bridge, Sapa