The leader of South Africa’s main opposition party on Monday said floor-crossing would not change the balance of power in Cape Town, the only major city not controlled by the ruling African National Congress (ANC).
”The coalition is stable,” Helen Zille, who leads the Democratic Alliance (DA) and is mayor of Cape Town, told Reuters at the outset of a two-week period allowing councillors and parliamentarians to switch parties without losing their seats.
A DA-led coalition has governed the city since the 2006 municipal election, taking over from the ANC, which has held an electoral stranglehold throughout the country since the end of apartheid in 1994.
The controversial floor-crossing legislation, which allows party switches between September 1 to 15, will give the ANC another opportunity to unseat Zille after several failed attempts in the past year.
The ANC supports the practice, which has led to the establishment of a flurry of small parties, some of them with only one member in elected bodies.
The ruling party reiterated late last week that it would welcome anyone committed to helping it meet its basic goals, which include fighting poverty and giving black South Africans a bigger stake in the economy.
”Doors of our movement will be open to individuals who demonstrate an unequivocal desire to meet these critical needs of the South African people, not just to increase the organisation’s membership numbers,” the ANC caucus said in a statement.
The DA opposes floor-crossing, which it says favours the ANC and weakens democracy.
Zille on Monday said that some of those planning to switch political allegiance were doing so not out of political motives but rather for personal financial gain.
”We’ve even seen bribes in the past few days,” she said. ”It is farcical because it makes floor-crossing financially rewarding. It is not only farcical, but it’s criminal.”
If the existing coalition survives the next two weeks, Zille, who pledged to broaden the appeal of her predominantly white party after taking over its leadership earlier this year, could have more clout to fight the ANC nationally.
The ANC, which typically wins two-thirds of the national vote and an even higher percentage of the black vote, is dealing with internal divisions ahead of a key leadership vote at a congress in December.
The party once led by Nelson Mandela has experienced sharp tensions over who should succeed President Thabo Mbeki, with many observers saying it is under pressure to move to the left after more than a decade of market-friendly policies.
Mbeki, while constitutionally limited to two terms as president, could run to remain as ANC leader, while his former deputy Jacob Zuma — a favourite of the left — has been campaigning as an alternative. – Reuters