By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The National Assembly (NA) has passed the Electoral Amendment Bill, with 232 MPs voting in favour, 98 against and three abstaining.
The parties that rejected the Bill include the IFP, ACDP, ATM and Democratic Alliance (DA), which argued the Bill was made to unfairly benefit the African National Congress (ANC).
The Electoral Amendment Bill was necessitated by an 11 June 2020 Constitutional Court ruling that declared the Electoral Act unconstitutional “to the extent that it requires that adult citizens may be elected to the National Assembly and provincial legislatures only through their membership of political parties”.
The apex court then suspended the declaration of unconstitutionality for “24 months to afford Parliament an opportunity to remedy the defect giving rise to the unconstitutionality”.
Home Affairs Minister Aaron Motsoaledi opened the debate. He said any electoral system has its advantages and disadvantages.
Motsoaledi said most of the opposition to the bill has come from civil society. “And we are very happy that civil society participate, it is very important in our constitutional democracy.”
However, he says much of the criticism on the bill is based on misunderstanding of the Constitutional Court judgment. He says it is simply incorrect that the court ordered a change broader than simply allowing independent candidates.
Civil society organisations have rejected the Bill, saying it does not favour voters and is unconstitutional.
The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), who also voted for the bill, said it is an opportunity to defend the people’s constitutional rights.
“We also take this opportunity to jealously guard and defend our constitutional rights and permissibility as democratically elected members of parliament to pass legislation. We have now written the law on independent candidates and once it has been approved by the NCOP, it must be signed into law and we must start preparing for the 2024 general elections.”
The DA’s Adrian Roos said electoral reform should occur around shared values.
“We need electoral reform based on shared values, we need a government built around shared values. We do not have the time to have this taken to court for obvious shortcomings. These matters will be made in court if we do not make the only rational decision here and send this bill back to the committee to make the necessary changes.”
Parliamentary spokesperson, Moloto Mothapo, said the Portfolio Committee on Home Affairs, which was tasked with processing the Bill, received 107 written submissions and 13 oral submissions from individuals and organisations, including One South Africa Movement, Africa School of Governance, Zolani Zonyani, Citizens Parliament, Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (OUTA), Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU), Abatsha Force of Change, Independent Candidate Association, and the Inclusive Society Institute.
Submissions were also received from the 70s Group, New Nation Movement, Indigenous First Nation of South Africa and the Council for the Advancement of South African Constitution.
Mothapo said the committee also conducted provincial public hearings in all nine provinces from 7 – 23 March 2022, where a total of 3 483 people attended the public hearings and 610 made oral submissions, with 389 supporting the Bill and 222 rejecting the current format of the Bill.
However, he said that due to the complexity of the Bill, including the demanding extensive public participation process, the committee foresaw that it was not going to meet the Constitutional Court deadline of 10 June 2022.
In this regard, prior to the expiry of the deadline, Parliament approached the Constitutional Court to request an extension period of six months to finalise the Bill.
Mothapo said the Constitutional Court granted an extension until 10 December 2022 to complete the processing of the Bill.
In the further processing of the Bill, the committee invited the Department of Home Affairs, the Electoral Commission, and Parliamentary Legal Service to comment on the report on public participation, and the report formed the basis of the committee deliberations, where it deliberated on the Bill on several occasions and held meetings during the Parliament’s Constituency period in June, July and October 2022.
The bill will now be will be sent to the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) for concurrence.
Livestream Video Below:
Video Courtesy of Parliament.