DA TABLES BILL TO LIMIT MOTIONS OF NO CONFIDENCE

DA TABLES BILL TO LIMIT MOTIONS OF NO CONFIDENCE

• 01 July 2023
• Parliament
• SA Legal Academy

The DA’s Siviwe Gwarube has tabled a Constitution 19^th Amendment Bill seeking to ‘limit the frequency’ of motions of no confidence in the Cabinet, the President, a provincial Executive Council or a Premier – nevertheless providing for circumstances in which that limit would not apply.

According to a memorandum on the Bill’s objects, it proposes capping motions of no confidence at one ‘every 12 months from the date of the last motion’. The Bill nevertheless proposes that provision should be made for additional motions of no confidence ‘in exceptional circumstances such as a violation of the Constitution’ or other legislation, misconduct or ‘the inability to perform the functions of office’.

The Bill was apparently prepared and tabled:

• in anticipation of coalition governments becoming ‘the new norm’, and
• noting an increasingly common practice at local government level to garner support for a motion of no confidence from smaller parties in exchange for prestigious positions.

The Constitution 19^th Amendment Bill is the fifth piece of proposed new legislation to be introduced this year by South Africa’s leading opposition party. The others are the:

• Prevention of Illegal Eviction from & Unlawful Occupation of Land Amendment Bill
• Remuneration of Public Office Bearers Amendment Bill
• Responsible Spending Bill, and
• the Electoral Commission Amendment Bill.

However, to date not a single DA Bill has progressed beyond the standard committee procedure of voting on its desirability – regardless of merit. More often than not, the reason given is that similar legislation is already being prepared by the executive. If or when that legislation eventually materialises, it may – but does not necessarily – draw from provisions in a rejected DA Bill or any other piece of legislation tabled as a private member’s Bill and deemed by the committee concerned not to be desirable.

Published by SA Legal Academy Policy Watch

0 COMMENTS

LEAVE A COMMENT