PM of Western Cape quits amidst drama

By M. S. Prabhakara

CAPE TOWN, NOV. 12. Mr Gerald Morkel, Premier of the Western Cape, has resigned. Mr Piet Meyer, who had resigned as Minister of Transport in Mr Morkel's Cabinet, was sworn in as interim Premier this morning. Both are from the New National Party (NNP) component of the Democratic Alliance, though the DA itself is fast becoming unravelled.

This is the latest stage in the ongoing drama in this Province which began with the ousting of Mr Peter Marais last month as Mayor of Cape Town. Mr. Marais, a colourful and controversial leader belonging to the NNP component of the DA, had defied the DA leader, Mr Tony Leon, though the seemingly immediate cause for his removal was his less than honest conduct in the matter of the renaming of two main avenues in Cape Town city centre.

In this confrontation, the Deputy Leader of the DA and leader of the New National Party, Mr Marthinus van Schalkwyk, backed Mr Marais and decided to make a break with the DA and seek a political accommodation with the African National Congress.

The decision, and the ANC's positive response to these overtures, expectedly derided by the powerful English language media, is not as outlandish as it may seem. Admittedly, the political inheritor of the party which implemented apartheid, the NNP has changed significantly even as the DA has become more and more the party of the privileged white, absorbing in the process the unrestructured supporters of apartheid unhappy with the tentative changes taking place in the old Nat political and ideological mindset.

Mr. Morkel, after a series of flip-flops, finally decided to stay with the DA. Since the majority of his own Cabinet colleagues from the NNP component of the DA, not to speak of the members of the NNP members, eventually abandoned him, his resignation became inevitable. However, a new Premier has to be elected by the Provincial Assembly within 30 days. If the Assembly fails in this task, the Province will have fresh elections, as provided in the provincial Constitution.

In order to avoid this eventuality, it is expected that in the course of the next four weeks, the necessary constitutional amendments will be put through to enable both Members of Parliament and members of the Provincial Assemblies to cross the floor without inviting automatic disqualification as MPs and MPLs.

According to Mr Johnny de Langa, Chairman of Parliament's Portfolio Committee on Justice, the amendments will ensure that no crossing of the floor will be permitted for one year after the elections. There are also reports that the amendments will allow only for a short window period to enable floor crossing.

Formally and in law, the NNP and DA components of the DA retain their original identities, and the members were elected on NNP and DA tickets in the June 1999 elections. The DA came into being only in June 2000, with the expectation that a united NNP-DA would do well in the December 2000 local government elections.

An amendment to the existing unrealistic and near- tyrannical provisions of the anti-defection provisions has for long been felt necessary, in the interest of democracy. The so- called anti-defection provisions of the Constitution in South Africa spelt out first in the Interim Constitution (Schedule 2) and as amended in the present Constitution (Annexure A) are absolute in their stringency, showing little understanding of political dynamics in a functioning democracy.

There is, for instance, no `escape clause', as provided in the Indian legislation by which one-tenth of the legislative strength of a political party can resign and cross floors without attracting disqualification. Also, since the members are elected on the basis of party lists and do not really represent specifically identified constituencies in the country, a member being expelled by his or her political party also attracts immediate disqualification from membership of the House.

The opposition DA, both in its present reinvented form and in its earlier form as DP, has for long called for scrapping of these provisions on the ground that these made members virtual slaves of party bosses.

The unspoken sub-text of such polemics is that the highly centralised ANC held its own members in bondage, holding the threat of disqualification against any independent initiative by its legislators. However, DA leader, Mr. Tony Leon, has described the current initiatives as `opportunistic'.

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