Elected leaders need to use deep dialogue, rather than debate, to grow understanding and trust, so people dare to act together. (Photo by RODGER BOSCH/AFP via Getty Images)
The Democratic Alliance’s (DA’s) entry into government has forced parliament to rethink its rules in terms of the definition of the official parliamentary opposition and determine who will now hold that title.
The uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) party has laid claim to it, by virtue of having won the third most votes in the May elections with 14.5% to the DA’s 21.8%.
“We consider ourselves, the party, as the official opposition of the country because the opposition party, the Democratic Alliance (DA), is now part of the government of national unity,” MK parliamentary leader John Hlophe said earlier this month.
But a parliamentary sub-committee will settle the question by way of an amendment to the rules of the legislature to accommodate the novel reality of coalition rule.
As the rules stand, they do not provide for a scenario where no party won an outright majority, a document with draft proposals tabled by National Assembly secretary Masibulele Xaso notes.
“The 2024 national and provincial government elections resulted in a hung parliament with no outright winner or a single party with an absolute majority,” he said.
“This outcome presents a different dynamic to what the Constitution refers to as ‘Internal arrangements, proceedings and procedures of the National Assembly’ which are encapsulated in the Rules of the National Assembly, 9th Edition.”
In a meeting of the sub-committee on Tuesday, Xaso proposed that Rule 32 be amended to clear up any confusion as to what defines an opposition party now that a coalition government is in place.
At present the rule reads: “The leader of the largest opposition party in the assembly must be recognised as the leader of the opposition as contemplated in section 57(2)(d) of the Constitution.”
It then deals with the possibility of two parties qualifying as the largest opposition party because they hold an equal number of seats in the National Assembly and stipulates that this will be resolved by recognising the one which won the highest of votes as the leader of the opposition.
What is lacking, the discussion document says, is a “definition of ‘opposition’, which will resolve any ambiguity” in any eventuality, even if all parties were to take up seats in the executive or a party that won a simple majority is not in the executive.
“A section must be added to include that opposition means any party not included in the national executive,” it proposes.
“The rule must say: ‘Opposition’ means any party whose members are not in the national executive as either president, minister or deputy minister, even if they are not members of parliament in terms of sections 91.4 and 93.1(b) of the Constitution.”
This then rules out not only the DA, but all other eight parties who accepted President Cyril Ramaphosa’s invitation to join a government of national unity led by the ANC, after the party polled only 40%, losing an outright majority it held for 30 years.
It meant, Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) MP Mbuyiseni Ndlozi said on Thursday, that the DA will no longer be the first to respond in debates, including the one that will follow the president’s state of the nation address next week.
“The speaking order, we have got to revise that,” he told speaker Thoko Didiza in the National Assembly programming committee.
“Sona [State of the Nation address], the budget vote, and all the mini-plenary sessions, we have got to start acclimatising ourselves that the first respondent is no longer the DA. They can’t speak first, they can’t speak before MK [party]. They are in government. You need to elevate MK [party] to the first respondent.”
If this were agreed, Hlophe would probably open the debate in response to Ramaphosa’s opening address.
The proposal to amend the parliamentary rules also deals with the designation of the chief whip of the majority, which is currently defined as the chief whip of the majority party.
Because this presupposes an absolute majority, the person is regarded as the chief whip of the majority of the members of parliament, but this cannot apply in the context of multi-party majority rule.
Or, as the discussion document puts it: “Therefore, what if there is no party with an absolute majority? If so, it should follow that there could not be a chief whip of the majority party.”
It proposes writing an alternative definition into Rule 33, reading: “In case no party attains an absolute majority of the votes in the elections, chief whip shall mean chief whip of the ruling parties which must be appointed from among parties that constitute national executive.”
However, the proposal adds that “priority must be given to a party with majority of the seats, or a party that attained majority of the votes in the elections”. In other words, the ANC is likely to retain the position.
There are financial benefits to being the official leader of the opposition or chief whip of the majority. Both earn just under R1.7 million a year, substantially more than the annual salary of an MP of R1.2 million.
The third issue the rules sub-committee must resolve is where the former opposition parties will sit in the National Assembly to reflect the fact that they have joined the government of national unity.
It was proposed that they would move to the right of the chamber, leaving the benches on the left free of the room free for the MK party, the EFF and six other smaller opposition who did not join the government of national unity. Hlophe, who sits on the sub-committee, said he agreed with this.
The committee has not taken any final decisions and will deliberate further.