15 Dec 2020

The Constitution (Amendment) Bill No.14 of 2020 has passed second reading and will go into committee stage at a later date.

Responding to MP’s debates on the bill, the Assistant Minister for Presidential Affairs, Governance and Public Administration Mr Dumezweni Mthimkhulu said the proposed amendment was about protecting public vote and the will of the people.

He expressed disappointment about opposition members, who he said deliberately attempted to mislead the nation. He said they spent a considerable amount of time speaking about specially elected MPs something he said was totally irrelevant to the subject matter.

He said it was well known that specially elected MPs  were provided for under a different section within the constitution and any attempt to sneak issues of their appointment under the current debate was unnecessary.

He said a clear distinction had to be made between defection and floor crossing. Mr Mthimkhulu said when a politician who was not holding any elected public office decides to join another party that was defection but if an elected representative decides to join another party under which they were not elected it was floor crossing.

He said that had the effect of denting public confidence on the democratic process and could fuel voter apathy.

He assured the nation that the constitution amendment was on the way and that the process would be lengthy and all the necessary steps would be followed to the latter.

Earlier on, Vice President Mr  Slumber Tsogwane  decried the  impact of floor-crossing  on voter apathy saying electorates  were disheartened by candidates who change political parties without  their consent.

Debating the bill Mr Tsogwane said it had the interest of voters at heart and would also strengthen electorates’ faith on their legislators since it was not based on any partisan ideology.

He said it was only appropriate for legislators to relinquish their seat when floor-crossing.

The constitution amendment reforms, he said were a welcomed development as they provided an opportunity to refine and modernise the country’s independence constitution.

He thus pleaded with legislators to adopt the proposed amendments in the interests of the electorates.

Selebi Phikwe East MP Mr Dithapelo Keorapetse said the bill was presented as petty political expediency.

He said the ruling BDP had a tendency of amending the constitution following a particular political development.

He said contrary to what ruling party members proposed, Batswana did not support any anti floor crossing legislation. He said democratic reforms should be brought to Parliament instead.

Serowe South MP Mr Leepetswe Lesedi said bye-election would cost the nation against the tough economic strain currently experienced.

He said there could have been a proper time to present the bill but not as hastily as the minister did.

He said Parliament could be addressing important matters of national interest such as electoral reforms and wait for constitution review to put the matter to rest.

Nkange MP Dr Never Tshabang said the bill was done in bad faith. He said it was important to deal with a holistic constitutional review rather than a piecemeal approach as presented by the minister. He said the bill deprived political party members’ freedom of expression which was not entertained by any democratic setup.

Meanwhile, Assistant Minister of Local Government and Rural Development Mr Kgotla Autlwetse has presented the Local Government (Amendment) Bill No.24 of 2020.

Mr Autlwetse said the objective of the Bill was to cause a vacancy in the seat of an elected member of a council where the member resigned from a political party which they were a member of at a time of their election to the council.

He said similarly the proposed amendment caused a vacancy in the seat of an elected member who having been elected to the council as a candidate who was not a member of a political party became a member of a political party. Debate on the bill continues. ENDS