Floor-crossing is not only morally problematic, but is also ”dysfunctional” in a parliamentary system, a German political scientist told a conference in Cape Town on Wednesday.
Dr Hans-Joachim Veen, honorary professor of comparative government at the University of Trier, said South Africa’s regular floor-crossings were a sign of a ”rudimentary party system” with underdeveloped party loyalty.
”Floor-crossing is not only democratically and morally problematic, it is also dysfunctional in a parliamentary system,” he told the conference, organised by the Konrad Adenauer Foundation and also addressed by a number of South African political party representatives.
He said it limited parties in government or in opposition from operating as they should, and harmed the democratic principles of efficiency, responsibility and transparency.
Among the elements that made a party strong and kept it stable were a clearly identifiable core of voters, a countrywide organisational structure and an active membership from which it could draw candidates for political office.
Veen said though floor-crossing was permitted in Germany by that country’s Constitution, it happened very rarely, and was regarded as illegitimate by voters.
African National Congress MP Mike Masutha told the conference that the Act was a response to the ”political imperatives” that prevailed at the time it was introduced four years ago.
”There were underlying political shifts in the political landscape, and we needed to be responsive to those shifts,” he said.
”If that situation has changed or is changing, we would be more than willing to observe the changes and assess whether there is a need to revisit the issue.
”We do not adhere rigidly to policies for the sake of [doing so].”
Democratic Alliance leader Tony Leon said the overwhelming majority of South Africans, of all political persuasions, were opposed to floor-crossing.
He did not believe the practice was wrong in itself, but believed it needed safeguards that were missing from the current legislation.
The original intention behind floor-crossing had been undermined in practice by the ANC, which had managed to turn it into ”the worst kind of cheque-book politics”.
It was revealing that of the 32 New National Party representatives on the Cape Town city council who crossed to the ANC in 2002, 28 were rewarded with higher posts, at greater pay and with more perks, than they had before.
Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) leader Chief Mangosuthu Buthelezi said the ”obnoxious” law was the most undemocratic piece of legislation passed since 1994.
There was evidence that floor-crossing discouraged South Africans from voting, and that they regarded a defection as a wasted vote.
Many members of his party had said they would not vote as long as the Act remained on the statute books.
He said there was now a ”ray of hope” that the ANC was amenable to reconsidering the law.
Both the IFP and DA have tabled private members’ Bills in Parliament to scrap floor-crossing, and have joined with other opposition parties in calling for its abolition.
In May this year, President Thabo Mbeki opened the door for revisiting the Act when he told the National Assembly that parties in Parliament ”really should discuss this”. — Sapa