The United Democratic Movement (UDM) has criticised President Cyril Ramaphosa for signing into law the Electoral Matters Amendment Bill.
The party says the only option is for the opposition parties who rejected the adoption of the Bill in Parliament to pursue the legal route against the Act.
UDM MP Nqabayomzi Kwankwa says the President failed to consider their objections prior to approving the Bill despite petitioning him.
The United Democratic Movement condemns in the strongest possible terms, President Cyril Ramaphosas controversial Electoral Matters Amendment Bill into law although he knows what the implications of this Bill are for our constitutional democracy. We petition the President not to sign the Bill into law as sister opposition parties and he ignored that.
We made it clear at the time when we sent him the petition that we will seek legal recourse in the event that he was to sign this Bill into law. Now that he has signed it into law, its clear we want to repeat that we are going to challenge it legally, explains Kwankwa.
In a message to the SABC, Presidential spokesperson Vincent Magwenya said theres no legal obligation on the President to respond to additional petitions when considering a Bill.
He added that in processing the Bill, the President evaluated all issues raised by political parties in Parliament and he looked at the fairness and openness of the process.
The IFP says it is also very disappointed that Ramaphosa signed the Bill.
The main aim of the Bill is to make provision for independent candidates to receive money from the Multi Party Democracy Fund.
However, it also changed the funding formula from the existing two thirds proportional and one third equitable disbursement to 90% proportional and 10% equitable disbursement of funds to parties in Parliament.
IFP Chief Whip Narend Singh explains their next move on the matter in conjunction with other opposition benches.
We are completely and utterly disappointed that although 10 opposition parties have submitted a petition in terms of the Constitution for the President to consider, his office didnt have the decency even to respond to our petition.
We even had to see it in the media that the Bill had been sign into law. We are now seeking legal advice on how we should proceed on a very urgent basis. But we will also like to see the proclamation and to see how the President has proclaimed this into law and what conditions are there, adds Singh.
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