Civil organisations who were contesting the controversial Electoral Amendment Bill will have to go back to the drawing board after the National Assembly passed the bill into law.
A whopping 232 of members of parliament voted in favour of the bill while 98 voted against it and three abstained.
The highly contested bill gives provision for independent candidates to contest elections on a provincial and national level. It was introduced to Parliament by Aaron Motsoaledi, the Minister of Home Affairs on January 10 2022 and published for public comment on January 21.
Explaining the bill, Parliament Spokesperson Moloto Mothapo said: “The Bill was warranted by the Constitutional Court judgement in the New Nation Movement NPC and Others vs President of the Republic of South Africa and Others case in June 2020 which ruled that the Electoral Act of 1998 was unconstitutional to the extent that it requires that adult citizens may be elected to the National Assembly and Provincial Legislation only through their membership of political parties.
“The Bill is mostly aimed at, amongst others, inserting certain definitions that are deemed consequential to the expansion of the Act to include independent candidates as contesters to elections in the National Assembly and provincial legislatures. It seeks to provide for the nomination of independent candidates to contest elections in the National Assembly or provincial legislatures and also provides for the requirements and qualifications that must be met by persons who wish to be registered as independent candidates.”
However, civil society organisations who are opposing the bill in its current form, said it was placing unfair criteria on independent candidates to contest. The organisations looked set to take Parliament to court to rescind the decision to adopt the bill into law.
In a statement after the seating in Parliament on Thursday, Build One SA (BOSA) spokesperson Mudzuli Rakhivhane said the party rejects the bill.
Rakhivhane confirmed that the BOSA is in full support of civil organisations that are planning to further contest the bill in the constitutional court.
“Members of Parliament rubber-stamped a government-sponsored bill that makes it near impossible for independents to stand alone and win elections. This is in contrast to the spirit of the New Nation Movement order by the Constitutional Court in June 2020 which found the Electoral Act to be unconstitutional.
“Due to Parliament’s errant behaviour, it is back to courts. We note and support the decision by a grouping of civil society organisations to challenge the bill in the Constitutional Court, applying for a declaration of invalidity,” Rakhivhane said.
Rakhivhane maintains that the bill is unconstitutional and flawed. She said there is a need for a new electoral system that will attract and accommodate talented youth that will transform the governance of the country for it to thrive.
“The bill is unreasonable, unfair, and unconstitutional for at least four reasons. The discarding of excess votes, independent candidates are limited to only half the seats in Parliament, the addition of onerous threshold requirements for independents to stand for election, and the matter of when vacancies in Parliament arise through resignation or death.
“We need a new electoral system that will attract young people to involve themselves in democratic discourse. The country faces numerous crises, which require new voices and actors to fix it. A new electoral system that improves accountability, attracts expertise and talent and improves governance is urgently required if South Africa is to thrive and prosper,” Rakhivhane lamented.
Also read: Electoral Amendment Bill unjust and questionable – SACC
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