In the latest twist in the current floor-crossing saga the African National Congress (ANC), despite all its previous protestations about taking firm action against members of Parliament convicted of fraud, on Wednesday accepted into their ranks Craig Morkel, who was convicted of fraud and theft in the Travelgate debacle.
Morkel was a member of the National Party who stayed in the Democratic Alliance when that alliance broke up. When the Travelgate scandal broke, he was immediately suspended and it was clear that if he was convicted he would be deprived of his seat. He promptly outsmarted the party bosses by crossing the floor and founding his own Progressive Independent Movement
This party he has now left — presumably because he stood no chance at all of being re-elected at the next general election in 2009. Whereas the Morkel family business, which certainly encompasses floor crossing, might ensure he keeps a place in Parliament with the ANC.
Craig Morkel’s brother, Kent, has just announced that he too is crossing to the ANC, from the DA, and with his web of interests and influence in the city of Cape Town and the provincial legislature is likely to prove a valuable asset in the battle to unseat the mayor of Cape Town, DA leader Helen Zille.
It has no doubt been something of a financial gamble for Craig Morkel. As leader of a party in Parliament he was entitled to an additional R50 000 a year in salary. In addition, leaders of one- and two-person parties enjoy an allowance for office staff of nearly R130 000 per annum. Such parties also receive constituency allowances of about R90 000 per year, plus a share of parliamentary funding for research, amounting to roughly R100 000 per year.
So he is betting the additional R360 000 — say R700 000 for the next two years — on the chance of being high enough up the ANC’s list to get back in again.
Chairperson of the ANC Mosiuoa Lekota said at a press briefing called to announce Morkel’s defection, together with those of three other MPs, that the ANC does not believe that the justice system requires punishment, but rather the rehabilitation of offenders.
The speaker of the National Assembly, Baleka Mbete, called on parties to take the ”strongest possible action” against MPs convicted of defrauding Parliament, and the first five ANC members to plead guilty were all dismissed from the house.
Five of the remaining members were demoted from their positions as party whips, but all of them retain their seats.
The other members crossing to the ANC on Wednesday were Vincent Gore, a former member of the DA, who left and moved to Patricia de Lille’s Independent Democrats and two women members of the United Independent Front (UIF ), Zintle Ndlazi and Nomakhaya Mdaka.
The UIF was formed two years ago when Malizole Diko fell out with General Bantu Holomisa the leader of the United Democratic Movement — itself a break away from the ANC. Diko has since died, which left the party at sea, and the two women defecting to the ANC have robbed the party of any representative in Parliament. – I-Net Bridge