Politics.za

The passage of the Civil Unions Bill, which would allow for both homo- and heterosexual civil unions outside the confines of the Marriage Act, through parliament has resulted in the ANC instructing all it’s MP’s to approve of the bill irrespective of their own personal feelings on the matter of homosexual marriage and despite the protestations from various religous and traditional leadership groups. ANC MP’s who are traditional leaders are still trying to abstain if possible, which would be one of the few times ever the ANC has ever had to deal with this type of dissension in it’s ranks.

Despite the fact that a significant chunk of it’s voters are conservative Christians (the stranglehold the ANC has on identity politics probably being one of the reasons why they haven’t jumped to the ACDP yet in my opinion) the ANC have enacted a number of laws that have not exactly make those voters happy and I wonder for how long they can continue doing so?

The Independent Group (publishers of a majority of SA’s newspapers) has asked for public help in fighting the new Film and Publications Amendment Bill. Here’s a joint statement released by the Freedom of Expression Institute, the National Editor’s Forum and the Media Institute of South Africa about the bill:

If this proposal is accepted by parliament, the effect will be that the print and broadcast media will be subjected to the dictates of the Film and Publications board. The practical effects will be that the media will be subjected to pre-publication censorship, probably forced to expunge large amounts of their news coverage from their pages or broadcasts and submit to procedures which will prevent papers from being distributed on a daily or weekly basis and result in broadcasters having to delay news broadcasts. The fact that the Bill makes provision for exemption matters little, as to impose this duty on the media amounts to seeking licence to publish.

If you care about an issue like this (and you should) then help out by attedning the public sessions and sending your submission to Matabela Mankge at mmankge@parliament.gov.za.

The Regulation of Interception of Communications and Provision of Communication-related Information Amendment Bill (RICA) still has some life in it despite my previous pleadings for it to be killed.

So once again I implore government to scrap this law. It’s intended aim, to register pre-paid SIM cards so that cell owners can easily be traced to fight crime, is easily subverted by even the most simpleton of criminals. However it is this laws onerous regulations, that require nearly 25 million people to register their phones within a year, that threaten to remove the only source of telecommunication from millions of poor South Africans that is the real reason this law needs to be thrown out.

The Choice on the Termination of Pregnancy (CTOP) Amendment Act and the Traditional Health Practitioners (THP) Act were both ruled unconstitutional today. The acts were challenged by anti-abortion group Doctors for Life.

There wasn’t anything blatantly unconstitutional in the acts themselves but they were challenged because the NCOP (the even more powerless sibling to the National Assembly) did not hold public hearings into the acts despite previously scheduling to do so.

Justice Ngcobo rightly stated:

When it comes to establishing legislative timetables, the temptation to cut down on public involvement must be resisted.

The timetable must be subordinated to the rights guaranteed in the Constitution, and not the rights to the timetable.

So due to someone in the NCOP deciding to cut a few corners and ram an act through the proper procedures, it’s now being declared unconstitutional. I hope whichever MP it was they get their pay docked for everyone’s wasted time.

Update: Yet another government ruling rammed through parliament ruled unconstitutional.

In business the percentage of employees who are replaced every year is the employee churn rate. If you worked for a company and over a period of ten years nearly 8 out of 10 employees were replaced, the place would be an absolute mess.

Which is why with 82% of parliamentarians having been replaced since 1994 it’s no wonder that the National Assembly has turned into a bunch of rubberstampers. A full 25% of parliamentarians were replaced in the 2004 elections alone! That’s ridiculous!

Now while many think that this is good as it prevents old crusty politicians making themselves nice and comfortable so they never have to work again, it can unfortunately lead to a weakening of parliament, whether that was a deliberate or accidental outcome we’ll never know.

Consider SCOPA one of the most important (if not the most important) committees in parliament. It’s chairman, PAC MP Themba Godi, was only elected in 2004 and so far and SCOPA has only managed to review 50% of the 286 auditor general reports from 2005. From the linked article SCOPA is said to be barely functional.

Another factor is that junior MP’s are less likely to challenge laws or directives handed down from the executive, something that has been quite apparent lately.

In my opinion this needs to change. The ideal way would be to implement a semi-constituent system where a set amount of MPs are elected to represent constituencies. But considering that will never happen any time soon I’d be happy if they just allowed some parliamentarians a bit of time to actually to do some effective work.

Here’s two pieces of good news coming out of the legislature.

First off same-sex marriages look set to become law by year end.

MP’s have also thankfully closed the loophole in the (deep breath) Prohibition of Mercenary Activities and Prohibition and Regulation of Certain Activities in an Area of Armed Conflict Bill that would allow South Africans to fight in conflicts that “assist movements fighting for national liberation, self-determination and independence against colonialism”. This would’ve potentially made the security guard working in Iraq guarding food convoys a criminal but allowed for the nutjob putting bombs in crowded marketplaces in the same conflict.

It’s a good thing they did this because I wasn’t looking forward to the inevitable article post in two years time when the government finally realises the law was stupid in the first place and has to be redrafted.

I must… express appreciation for the remarks made by the Honourable Tony Leon, and the manner in which he expressed his views. I was indeed pleased to note the fact that Honourable Members truly respected his (Leon’s) right to state his views by containing their heckling, making it possible for all of us to hear what he had to say, regardless of its merits.

Former ANC Chief Whip Tony Yengeni looks like he finally might be going to jail, after being convicted in 2003. Yengeni will probably launch a petition for leave to appeal but if that is turned down it’s off to the slammer.

As a user of ADSL in South Africa I am duty bound to gnash my teeth at our current Minister of Communications Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri for her Departments seeming incompetence and uncaring attitude over the fact that Telkom is ripping SA consumers off as best they can. Which is why everyone was a bit concerned when the minister put pressure on the NCOP to amend the ICASA bill to give her more direct control over the selection of ICASA’s councillors, which is borderline unconstitutional.

Luckily Thabo Mbeki has given Ivy a political snotklap by sending the bill back to parliament. It seems even Thabo might be getting a bit impatient with the fact that Ivy hasn’t done much to lower telecommunications costs or promote competition in the seven years she has been in office. If there’s a cabinet reshuffle between now and the 2009 elections I don’t think Ivy will retain her post.

Tomorrow the DA will introduce a bill into parliament seeking to prevent floor crossing. And I’m sure once the ANC MP’s have wiped the tears of laughter from their eyes they will give it a good looking over before tossing it in the rubbish bin. The DA do try to show why the ANC should vote for the bill:

We hope that the ANC will not wait until it faces a mass defection from one of its major factions before it decides to throw its weight behind the move to repeal the floor-crossing legislation in its current form.

The DA is probably hopeful to get this passed before the next floor crossing window potentially wipes out their hold on the Cape Town City Council.

Unfortunately for the DA the ‘10% clause’ (at minimum 10% of party members must defect) in the current floor crossing legislation makes is a bit difficult for a ‘major faction’ to just up and walk away from the ANC. Something the ANC knows all too well. Although with the current paranoia in the ANC you never know what irrational act they’ll be carrying out next.

Tony Leon believes that public pressure will force the ANC to approve the bill, but considering that the majority of the public supports the death penalty and the ANC has no plans to bring it back I think he might be wasting his time.