Floor Crossing ...

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FoxFive50

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Why is floor crossing allowed? I can't find any good reason for it.

Surely there must be some kind of sound political reason/reasoning behind it? What is the positive intent / good reason that it is allowed?
 
FoxFive50 said:
Why is floor crossing allowed? I can't find any good reason for it.

Surely there must be some kind of sound political reason/reasoning behind it? What is the positive intent / good reason that it is allowed?
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Originally, it to allow the former NP members to join whichever party they where shacked up with at the time - I think it was with the DP when they formed the DA, but it could have been when they climbed into the ANC's bed. Good wholesome stuff.

There is no positive intent, beyond allowing politicians to push their snouts into the deeper trough.
 
I think the original intent was to allow politicians who felt they could no longer support their current party for ethical reasons, to cross to another party.

Although whether that was an actual reason or an excuse, I'm not sure. But that was the explanation given at the time.
 
It is not democratic in a country where people cannot vote for people. We vote for parties. If we voted for specific people then floor crossing would be good. The problem is that we don't. Floor crossing is thus unethical because like me I vote against the ANC more than anything else. A politician in a party I voted foor crossing the floor is voiding my vote and in my opinion deserves to be shot cold dead on sight.

I won't do it, but wouldn't mind somebody else doing it. I will even go visit such a person in jail with cookies.
 
I don't really have anything against floor crossing - with the proviso that you lose your seat when you cross. As I understand it, you vote for a party, that determines how many seats they get, and they assign them to party members. So the seat doesn't belong to the person, and stays with the party when they leave.

That allows for swapping parties for ethical reasons, and doesn't betray the voters.
 
Cathryn said:
I don't really have anything against floor crossing - with the proviso that you lose your seat when you cross. As I understand it, you vote for a party, that determines how many seats they get, and they assign them to party members. So the seat doesn't belong to the person, and stays with the party when they leave.

That allows for swapping parties for ethical reasons, and doesn't betray the voters.
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Agree completely. I would imagine that in this case the number of politicians having ethical crises would drop severely.
 
Cathryn said:
I don't really have anything against floor crossing - with the proviso that you lose your seat when you cross.
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That's just changing political parties. Was there any reason they couldn't already do that?

Cathryn said:
As I understand it, you vote for a party, that determines how many seats they get, and they assign them to party members. So the seat doesn't belong to the person, and stays with the party when they leave.
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That's exactly it. It beggars belief that this ridiculous law has been upheld.
 
stoke said:
I am willing to march on this issue, as well as being willing to lay a civil charge of theft against the barstards who took my vote, and gave it away.
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True. There is a simple mechanism for seeing how many votes a particular seat is worth. All you need is a class action of vote theft and the outcome would be pretty interesting!

This would have to be a constitutional case IMO.
 
There is another thread here about Democracy.
South African democracy is unique to any other country in the world where you vote only for a party (yet the campaign features a person on its posters etc) and where the party-members YOU voted into office can simply walk across to another without you, the voter', consent.
 
Hehe it's got to be one of the biggest scams in the world, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Floor_crossing_(South_Africa)

Floor crossing in South Africa is a controversial system under which Members of Parliament, Members of Provincial Legislatures and Local Government councillors may change political party (or form a new party) and take their seats with them when they do so.
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So basically, what's the point in voting, the fat cats are going to take your votes to the highest paying bidder anyway. Now this brings up a question, could someone like Shuttleworth for a party, buy a majority of seats and take over the government! Just think, he'd destroy telkom, drown icasa and bring sky tv in to kill dstv, hey all of a sudden I'm liking this flor crossing :D
 
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