The DA's rise to power has forced parliament to rethink the rules on the definition of a formal parliamentary opposition and determine who should hold that title. (Photo: RODGER BOSCH/AFP via Getty Images)
TThe Democratic Alliance (DA) coming to power has forced Parliament to rethink the rules on the definition of a formal opposition party and determine who will hold that title going forward.
The Umkhonto weSizwe (MK) party claims to have won the seat after receiving the third highest number of votes in May's elections with 14.5% to the DA's 21.8%.
“With the opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) now in the national unity government, we now consider ourselves the official national opposition,” MK parliamentary leader John Hlophe said earlier this month.
But a parliamentary subcommittee would solve the problem by amending parliamentary rules to accommodate the new reality of a coalition government.
Current rules do not account for the possibility that no party would win a majority, according to a draft document submitted by National Assembly secretary Masibulele Shaso.
“The 2024 national and state elections have resulted in a hung parliament with no party with an absolute majority and no clear winner,” he said.
“This outcome represents a departure from what the Constitution calls the 'internal arrangements, procedures and procedures of the National Assembly,' which are codified in the 9th Edition of the Rules of the National Assembly.”
At a subcommittee meeting on Tuesday, Chasso proposed amending rule 32 to clear up confusion over the definition of an opposition party now that a coalition government is in place.
Currently, the rules state: “The Leader of the largest Opposition party in Parliament shall be recognised as Leader of the Opposition as provided for in Article 57(2)(d) of the Constitution.”
Next, it addresses the possibility of two parties with the same number of seats in Parliament becoming the largest opposition party, and provides that this issue will be resolved by recognizing the party that receives the most votes as the leader of the opposition.
What is missing, according to the discussion document, is a “definition of 'opposition' that would remove any ambiguity” in any eventuality, even if all parties hold seats in the executive or if no party has a simple majority in the executive.
“A clause should be added stating that opposition means a party that is not part of the state executive,” he suggested.
“The rules must state: 'Opposition party' means a party which is not a member of the National Assembly as referred to in Article 91(4) and Article 93(1)(b) of the Constitution, but is not serving in the national executive as President, Minister or Deputy Minister.”
This excludes not only the DA but also eight other parties that accepted President Cyril Ramaphosa's invitation to join a national unity government led by the ANC, which won just 40% of the vote, losing the majority it has held for three decades.
That means the DA will no longer be first to respond in debates, including the debate following the president's state of the nation address next week, Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) MP Mbuyiseni Ndlozi said on Thursday.
“The order of speech needs to be revised,” he told parliament's planning committee speaker Thoko Didiza.
“Sona [State of the Nation address]budget votes, and all the mini plenary sessions, we have to start getting used to the fact that the first defendants are no longer the DA. They cannot speak first, they cannot speak before the MK. [party]They are in the government. We need to promote MKs. [party] “To the first defendant.”
If he agrees, Hlophe will likely respond to President Ramaphosa's opening speech and begin the debate.
The proposal to amend parliamentary rules also addresses the appointment of the majority whip, currently defined as the majority whip.
This presupposes an absolute majority, so that person is considered the whip of the majority of the Diet members, but this is not applicable in the case of multi-party majority rule.
Or, as the discussion paper puts it: “So what if there is no party with an absolute majority? If so, it would follow that there can be no majority party whip.”
The committee has proposed to write an alternative definition in Rule 33 stating, “When no party wins a majority of the votes in an election, the term 'Chief Whip' means the Chief Whip of the ruling party and the Chief Whip must be appointed from among the parties that make up the national executive.”
But the proposal adds that “priority must be given to the party with the majority of seats in parliament or the majority of votes in the election”, meaning the ANC is likely to retain its position.
Being official Leader of the Opposition or Majority Whip comes with financial benefits: both earn just under R1.7 million a year, significantly more than an MP's annual salary of R1.2 million.
The third issue the Rules Subcommittee must resolve is where the former opposition parties should be seated in Parliament to reflect the fact that they have joined the national unity government.
The proposal was to move to the right side of the chamber and leave seats on the left side of the chamber open for MK, the EFF and the six smaller opposition parties that did not join the government of national unity.Hlophe, who is a member of the sub-committee, said he agreed.
The committee is yet to make a final decision and is expected to hold further deliberations in the future.
