Eastern Cape backs floor-crossing law repeal

All parties in the Bhisho Legislature this morning supported repeal of crossing-the floor legislation.

All the nine provincial legislatures must express their view on the matter ahead of the tabling of the Constitutional Fourteenth and Fifteenth amendment bills that scrap the legislation at national and provincial and municipal level respectively.

Deputy-Speaker Gloria Barry told the Legislature that the Rules Committee had met and discussed the proposed measures and supported them.

DA leader Athol Trollip said the crossing-the floor legislation had been “bad” especially as the electoral system in South Africa was that of proportional representation (PR) at national and provincial level, although he acknowledged that the DA had supported it at the time.

In doing so, he said, “we undermined the democratic wishes of the people of South Africa” and had led to greed and “massive opportunism” with people being offered financial inducements.

“Cheque book politics became the hallmark in South Africa”.

The United Democratic Movement’s Masiza Mhlati said that “at last” his party’s view had been respected saying the legislation had favoured those who “wanted to fill their stomachs at the benefit of the people”.

He said the ANC had been the main beneficiary.

He pointed out that the legislation had led to the creation of single-person parties that had disappeared at the next election.

The ANC’s Neela Hoosain noted that it was the then Democratic Party that had initiated the floor crossing legislation, adding that the ANC had wanted the provision that 10% of a party was required to support any crossing the floor in order to prevent the creation of a “plethora of small parties”.

What had actually happened, she said, was that “the identity of parties had been diluted”.

She said people should be encouraged to identify with the party of their choice but that this should be based on “ethics”.