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The Democratic Alliance (DA) welcomes today’s Constitutional Court ruling that the way the National Assembly handles the introduction of legislative proposals by members of parliament is unconstitutional.

When a member wants to introduce a new Bill, either to amend legislation or create new legislation, they must first submit a memorandum to the Speaker who then refers it to a Private Members Legislative Proposal Committee. This committee then deliberates on the proposal and makes a recommendation to the House as to whether that proposal be proceeded with.

The DA has consistently complained that this process is openly politicised as virtually every proposal we have made has been thwarted without due consideration or adequate justification. Some of the most prominent examples of proposals put forward by the DA but rejected this year without good reason include:

• The proposal to prevent government from doing business with companies owned or managed by public office bearers or political parties.
• The proposal to better regulate the allocation of national Lottery money.

We therefore welcome the fact that the Constitutional Court has now declared this process “inconsistent with the constitution”, ruling in favour of Dr Mario Ambrosini’s 2010 case against the National Assembly Speaker.

We also congratulate Dr Ambrosini and the Inkatha Freedom Party and thank them for taking the initiative to fight for something that will benefit all members of parliament and all political parties in the future.

The National Assembly will now have to create new rules to ensure that a member’s constitutional right is given meaningful effect and I will participate fully in this process.