DA 'wasting its time on election bill'

The Democratic Alliance was jumping the gun by going to court about a draft bill that could prevent South Africans living abroad from registering for provincial elections, the ANC said yesterday.

"The DA's baffling decision to approach the court on a draft bill that parliament is still considering is premature, ill-advised and defies common sense," said ANC chief whip Stone Sizani.

He said the Electoral Amendment Bill was still being discussed in the parliamentary committee and was scheduled for public hearings soon.

The DA reported that it and nine other applicants filed papers on the matter in the Cape Town Court on Tuesday.

DA executive chairman James Selfe said the party wanted South Africans living abroad to be eligible to register for both national and provincial elections.

They believed the bill might be unconstitutional, because it excluded the right to a provincial vote.

"As it stands, the Independent Electoral Commission's bill will only allow for overseas voters to vote for the national list and not the regional list," Selfe said.

"By doing this, the bill would also effectively rule out having a constituency-based system. It will also not provide for overseas voters to vote for the provincial legislature."

The DA wanted people to be able to register abroad and to have voting stations made available in locations where a substantial number of South Africans lived, but where there were no embassies or consulates.

Sizani said the DA tended to use the courts to fight its political battles in parliament.

"It is unfortunate that, despite its repeated losses in courts, the opposition has still not learned a valuable lesson: that, in terms of the doctrine of separation of powers, the judiciary cannot be drawn into or made to interfere in the internal processes of an independent arm of the state.

"The decision to approach the courts on what is essentially work in progress within parliament is tantamount to asking the court to write this bill for parliament," said Sizani.

"Inasmuch as parliament may not write judgments for the judiciary, the judiciary, too, should not be called in to write bills for the legislature," he said.