Dear friends and fellow South Africans,
Something perverse happened in the past decade that disrupted the course of democracy in South Africa, but we may have a chance to set it right. Best of all is that the ones to do it are the people themselves.
Over the course of a few years, floor crossing legislation enabled MPs, MPLs and local government councilors to swop their allegiance between political parties, taking their seat with them. It was a betrayal of the electorate and a betrayal of democracy. The will of the people was subverted, putting the power to decide who should lead into the hands of politicians.
In January 2006, in an interview with the South African Press Association, I said, "Floor-crossing robs the political system of all honour, holding political parties hostage by rendering them unable to discipline their own members. It allows the emergence of careerists, self-serving politicians; which are a very strange breed because they do not honour the sanctity of the vote cast in the ballot box."
The IFP rejected floor crossing legislation, because we believe that the will of the people is supreme in a genuine democracy. The people deserve to receive the leadership they choose. Floor crossing opened the way for chequebook politics, and many of those who shifted allegiance were bribed and then rewarded.
One of the places worst affected by floor crossing legislation was the district of Ugu in KwaZulu Natal. Although the people had chosen an IFP leadership and given their mandate to the IFP through the ballot box, the ANC took over control of Ugu and its local municipalities.