The National Assembly has passed the Electoral Amendment Bill with 232 voting in favour of the Bill on Thursday.
Those in support were the African National Congress, Economic Freedom Fighters, Pan-Africanist Congress, Al Jama Ah and the National Freedom Party.
The Democratic Alliance, African Christian Democratic Party, Inkatha Freedom Party, Freedom Front-Plus and Congress of the People (COPE) voted against it. The Good Party and the African Independent Congress abstained.
The Bill had to go for a vote after the DA called for a division.
The Bill seeks to give independent candidates the right to participate in the National and Provincial Elections. The Constitutional Court declared the Electoral Act unconstitutional as it required that adult citizens may only be elected to the National Assembly and provincial legislatures only through their membership of political parties.
The results were read by House Chairperson Madala Ntombela.
“The results of the division are as follows: The Yes is 232, the no’s 98, and the abstentions are 3. The question is accordingly agreed to and the Electoral Amendment Bill has accordingly been read for the second time and has been sent to the National Council of Provinces for concurrence.”
‘Rectify defect in the law’
It was the ConCourt decision that eventually led to the bill being placed before the House for discussion.
As SABC News Mercedes Besent reports the New Nation Movement and other Independent Candidates successfully challenged the constitutionality of the Act more than two years ago. It was in June 2020 when Concourt Justice Mbuyiseli Madlanga ordered Parliament to rectify the defect in the law.
“The declaration of unconstitutionality is prospective with effect from the date of this order but its operation is suspended for 24 months to afford Parliament to remedy the defect giving rise to the unconstitutionality.
The Bill to amend the Act was only tabled in the Parliament six months before the June 2022 Court deadline. The first nationwide public hearing was held a few months later, but Parliament was unable to meet the deadline and applied for an extension which was granted until 10 December.
Calls to reject it
A group of civil society organisations has come together and slammed the new Electoral Amendment Bill in a letter to Parliament, calling on members to reject it.
Director at Non-Profit Organisation Rivonia Circle, Tessa Dooms, says that the bill has some seriously concerning aspects in its current form.
“We could have been having some substantive debates about this a long time ago, had parliament been willing to do its work. We, as people of South Africa, whether we’re an organised civil society, or I’m just an individual citizen, I have every right to ask parliamentarians questions about the bills that they put on the table and the laws that they pass. We must be able to ask questions about the rationality, and the constitutionality of the bills that they’re passing, and this particular bill has some very serious questions that parliament needs to answer.”
‘Time for another system’
The UDM has rejected the Bill in its current form. UDM leader Bantu Holomisa says while the inclusion of Independent Candidates in national and provincial elections is a step in the right direction, the Bill has not gone far enough to change the electoral system.
“Since the days of the now defunct IDASA, the UDM has been advancing the agenda of having an electoral system that in a larger part is a constituency-based system. A mixed system of proportional representation system and constituencies like we currently have at the municipal level will boost accountability to the electorate. Honourable members it is time for us to have another system to strengthen our democracy and ensure its future health. Let us change the legislation and let the demarcation boar and the IEC draw up the new boundaries for new constituencies.”
‘Misunderstanding of ConCourt judgment’
Meanwhile, Home Affairs Minister Aaron Motsoaledi says the criticism against the Electoral Amendment Bill is based on a misunderstanding of the Constitutional Court judgment.
He says the main purpose of the Bill is to comply with the ConCourt directive which is related to independent candidates. Parliament had to rectify the defect in the Act.
Motsoaledi elaborates, “I wish to observe that much of the criticism against the bill comes from civil society and we are very happy that civil society participated. It’s very important in our participatory democracy. However, I wish to highlight that much of the criticism is based on the misunderstanding of the constitutional court judgment and the contention that the judgment obligates Parliament to change the electoral system beyond just accommodating Independents. That’s is simply not correct as a matter of law, as I have explained.”
