Some opposition parties in Parliament have threatened legal action if the Electoral Matters Amendment Bill is approved by the President.
The Bill has already been passed in the National Assembly last week and is now with the NCOP for concurrence.
They say a proposal in the Bill to change the current funding formula from a 66 % proportional with 33 equitable percent to a funding formula of 90% proportional and 10 % equitable will only benefit the African National Congress (ANC).
They say the ruling party will be receiving an additional amount of more than R52 million for the election budget at the expense of smaller parties. However, the Electoral Matters Amendment received the support of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) and al Jama ah.
Those against it are calling on President Cyril Ramaphosa not to sign all the sections of the Bill into law. They say the implementation of the funding model must be delayed allowing for further consultation, failing which they will challenge it at the Constitutional Court.
“We don’t want to run to court, we’ve been beaten before you don’t run to court until you have exhausted available avenues to you as MPs we’ve gone through the NA process, then it’s the NCOP process then it’s the president signing process but before the president signs we can intervene because the constitution allows us to intervene and get the president to consider otherwise,” says Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) Chief Whip Narend Singh.
