Ten opposition parties in Parliament have petitioned President Cyril Ramaphosa not to sign the Electoral Matters Amendment Bill into law, saying it was unconstitutional.
The Bill was passed by the National Assembly and National Council of Provinces (NCOP) last week and sent to Ramaphosa for approval.
It is a continuation of the Electoral Amendment Act that was passed last year to provide for independent candidates to stand for election in Parliament and also provincial legislatures.
In their petition to Ramaphosa, the Multi-Party Charter stated that they would be forced to join those in civil society, who have already given notice of their intention to approach the courts, to oppose this legislation on the grounds of unconstitutionality.
They argued that this undermined a multi-party democracy and would only increase the African National Congress’ (ANC) public funding by 25% in its current representation.
This is achieved at the expense of all of the opposition parties except the Democratic Alliance (DA) which would also receive an increase of about 10% in public funding.
“Despite the benefit of a proposed increase the DA joins us in challenging the Bill’s constitutionality. We have submitted to the President that this does not enhance multi-party democracy but undermines it,” the parties said in a statement.
“We have also submitted to the President that, in its haste to pass this legislation, parliament has failed to meet the constitutional duty to facilitate meaningful and reasonable public consultation.”
According to the Moonshot pact, the bill was hastily approved.
“The substantive, and unnecessary, amendments to the Political Party Funding Act included a change to the implementation of Section 236 of the Constitution which requires that represented political parties receive public funding on an “equitable and proportional basis” to enhance multi-party democracy,” they said.
Being eight weeks away from election day May 29, the parties said they were committed to contesting the election without disrupting or delaying the timetable.
The opposition parties further called on Ramaphosa to refer the substantive amendments in the bill back to Parliament for reconsideration after the elections.
Meanwhile, the National Assembly approved a bill that sets aside an additional R200 million to be shared between parties for electioneering.
kamogelo.moichela@iol.co.za
IOL Politics