Court allows defection of DA MPs

According to a Business Day report, Judge Burton Fourie formalised the defection of four of the DA’s top black MPs to the ANC as well as one who left to form his own party. He said if the DA’s construction were to be adopted, the threshold rule of 10% would be subject to ‘constant change’ as and when the members left and joined the party. The DA had argued that because it had its numbers boosted by earlier defections in favour of the party the five defectors fell short of fulfilling the 10% threshold required by the Constitution. The effect of the judgment is to reduce the number of DA seats in the National Assembly to 47, a net loss of three seats. Fourie also ordered the DA to pay the costs (R1.2m) of the MPs who joined the ANC, the ANC and the Speaker Baleka Mbete. Full Business Day report