The controversial Electoral Amendment Bill is on its way to the National Assembly for consideration after the Portfolio Committee on Home Affairs completed its work on the legislation on Wednesday.
The ANC supports the bill. The DA and EFF do not, albeit for differing reasons.
The DA has some technical concerns about the bill, while the EFF wants higher barriers for independent candidates’ participation in national and provincial elections.
The committee adopted its report on the bill, with the recommendation that the National Assembly supports it, with the DA and EFF’s objections.
The bill will now go to the National Assembly. If it passes there, as expected due to the ANC’s majority, it will go to the National Council of Provinces, for that Houses’ legislative process.
The deadline to complete the work on the bill, and have it signed by President Cyril Ramaphosa is tight – this must be done by 10 December, as mandated by the Constitutional Court.
The bill came about through a ruling by the apex court.
The bill is 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”.
Parliament initially deferred working on the amendment to the Department of Home Affairs.
Home Affairs Minister Aaron Motsoaledi appointed a ministerial advisory committee (MAC), chaired by former minister Valli Moosa in February 2021, more than six months after the court order.
The MAC’s majority recommendation envisaged a system that provided a mixed single-member constituency and proportional representation (PR) system.
Motsoaledi and his department went with the minority advice and drafted a bill that relied solely on a PR system, amending the current system as little as possible.
The ANC has subsequently fallen in step behind Motsoaledi, after the bill was eventually introduced to Parliament in January this year.
As it became clear that Parliament would not meet the deadline, it approached the Constitutional Court for an extension, which was granted for six months.
Civil society took a keen interest in the bill amid calls for greater accountability for politicians.
On Monday, several civil society organisations launched a campaign to persuade MPs not to pass the bill, with Defend our Democracy emailing a video with concerns about the bill to MPs. They intend to mobilise the public and, if the bill passes through the National Assembly and National Council of Provinces, also call on Ramaphosa not to sign it.
If all else fails, litigation will be considered.
The group spans ideological divides, but their shared concern is that the bill would not ensure greater accountability, as MPs will still serve at the behest of their parties. A system that includes constituencies is preferred, like that proposed by the majority recommendation of the MAC.
After the committee adopted its report on Wednesday, committee chairperson ANC MP Mosa Chabane said they know the electoral system is “contested terrain”.
“Parliament may consider a new system post-2024 provincial and national elections,” said Chabane.
“That should be an authority of Parliament to pronounce on.”
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