Floor crossing (South Africa)

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Floor crossing in South Africa is a controversial system under which Members of Parliament, Members of Provincial Legislatures and Local Government councillors may change political party (or form a new party) and take their seats with them when they do so. The floor crossing was enabled by amendments to the Constitution of South Africa and other legislation passed by Parliament. ^[1] The amendment removed clauses requiring members of the National Assembly to give up their seats should they change parties. According to the amendments, floor crossing is only permitted twice in an electoral term, in the second and fourth years after the General Elections, from the 1st to the 15th of September. The first floor crossing window was in 2005, and the latest in 2007.

1 History
2 Floor crossing in practise
3 Criticism and controversy
4 List of Parliamentary floor crossings
5 References
6 See also

[edit] History

Floor crossing legislation was initially requested by the Democratic Party and the New National Party in November 2001, as a means of formalising their unification into the Democratic Alliance. The African National Congress, who held the power in the legislature to change the constitution, did not favour the measure at the time, as they perceived the DA to be a "congealing of a race and class based political opposition". ^[2] However, when the NNP leadership announced their desire to leave the DA and form alliances with the ANC in 2001, the ANC passed the legislation. ANC chairman Mosiuoa Lekota stated that the party's reasons for the legislation was "for some political realignment…and the break-up of racial power blocks". ^[2]

[edit] Floor crossing in practise

Generally speaking, the ruling ANC has benefited the most from this system, but other parties have managed to gain seats this way ^[3] The ANC, and large parties in general, have benefited the most from floor crossing because of a clause in the legislation that requires ten percent of a party's caucus to cross the floor before any one member can cross. This means that if an ANC MP in the National Assembly wanted to cross the floor, he or she would need to rely on 30 of his or her colleagues to do the same because the ANC has 293 MPs in the National Assembly. It is far easier for public representatives of small parties to cross the floor since they need to collude with fewer of their colleagues. If there are less than ten members in a caucus, the ten percent clause effectively allows each member to cross the floor unilaterally.

[edit] Criticism and controversy

The system has been the source of much controversy, with many commentators arguing that it disenfranchises voters, by effectively allowing politicians to 'reallocate' votes as they see fit. Other critics of floor crossing also argue that it lends itself to bribery and corruption. The official opposition, the Democratic Alliance, has pointed out that during the 2002 floor crossing window period in Cape Town, 87% of National Party Councillors that crossed to the ANC were appointed to a position with a better salary.

Floor crossing is particularly controversial because South African MPs are elected by proportional representation, and are nominated by political parties on a closed party list before a general election. Voters thus vote for a political party rather than for an individual MP. However, floor crossing allows for MPs to change parties, with the possible result that the composition of the elected bodies no longer represents the original vote count.

In a 15 January 2006 interview at the SAPA, Inkatha Freedom Party president Mangosuthu Buthelezi said, "Floor-crossing is like the HI-virus because it robs the political system of all honour, holding political parties hostage by rendering them unable to discipline their own members. It allows the emergence of careerists, self-serving politicians, which are a very strange breed because they do not honour the sanctity of the vote cast in the ballot box." ^[4]