DA reintroduces bills seeking to prevent frivolous no-confidence motions
The DA has experienced being turfed out of both the Johannesburg and Tshwane metro councils on the back of no confidence votes over disagreements with its political bedfellows.
Democratic Alliance (DA) flag. Picture: X/@DA_Gauteng
CAPE TOWN - As the Government of National Unity (GNU) faces an uncertain future, the Democratic Alliance (DA) has moved to ensure greater stability for coalitions at local government and provincial levels after the next elections.
It reintroduced to Parliament bills that seek to prevent frivolous motions of no confidence, which aim to topple mayors and overthrow coalition governments.
DA chief whip, George Michalakis, said that for the sake of better service delivery and governance, new legislation must be in place before next year's polls.
The DA has experienced being turfed out of both the Johannesburg and Tshwane metro councils on the back of no-confidence votes over disagreements with its political bedfellows.
Michalakis is proposing that unless found to have been in violation of their constitutional obligations or acting against the law, motions of no confidence would be limited to once a year.
"It's for the simple reason that you don't want it used in a frivolous way as a political tool. You don’t want political games to destabilise municipal administration."
Michalakis's predecessor, Siviwe Gwarube, had originally introduced the bills last year but they lapsed with the change of administration.
The Department of Cooperative Governance has, meanwhile, been working on similar legislation since 2016 and has published drafts for discussion.
"I suspect they might have one or two reservations about my private members' bills. We've made a few submissions about reservations we have on their versions, so these things need to be discussed."
Parliament's portfolio committee has decided that to avoid a clash of legislation, Michalakis engage the minister within the next month to find a way to merge their contents.