Pressure piling on Ramaphosa over "defective" Electoral Amendment Bill

The One South Africa (OSA) Movement believes there is no way President Cyril Ramaphosa can sign the Electoral Amendment Bill into law in its current form. Dr Michael Louis, director of OSA, as well as founder of the Independent Candidates Association, told BizNews correspondent Michael Appel that there's ardent opposition to the recently-passed Bill, with stinging criticism even coming from none other than former president's Thabo Mbeki and Kgalema Motlanthe. In June 2020, the Constitutional Court ruled that our Electoral Act was unconstitutional. The Bill of Rights - which gives any individual the right to stand for public office - is at odds with current legislation stating anyone contesting elections must belong to a political party. The ConCourt ordered parliament to remedy the situation within 24 months, but that deadline expired in June 2022. An extension until 10 December this year was granted. Louis predicts that due to the flawed and defective process by which the Bill, in its current form was crafted, it simply won't pass constitutional muster. Ramaphosa is likely, he believes, going to have to approach the ConCourt with yet another condonation application in order to make changes to the Bill so that it equals out the skewed playing field currently working in favour of political parties. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices