Issued by: Office of the Presidency
30 January 2001
The Leader of Government Business in the National Assembly, Deputy President Jacob Zuma, today met with the Leader of the Opposition, Mr Tony Leon and Opposition Chief Whip Mr Douglas Gibson, at the Union Buildings in Pretoria.
The purpose of the meeting was for Mr Leon to table his party's proposal for the possible introduction of legislation in Parliament, as envisaged in Item 23A of Schedule 6 of the Constitution No. 108 of 1996.
Amongst other things, this Schedule makes provision for a possible introduction of legislation that would regulate the merging of political parties and retention of membership in the legislature of members who changed political parties.
The Deputy President noted the presentation and said that it would be important that this issue be presented before Parliament for vigorous debate by all political parties.
The meeting further discussed the newly-established Leader of Government Business Forum of Opposition Leaders, which met for the first time in September 27, 2000, where Forum members agreed to meet quarterly, to discuss issues of national interest in a non-partisan and non-adversarial manner. The first meeting for 2001 is scheduled for February.
This Forum would not exclude one-on-one meetings between Government and opposition leaders where the need arose.
The Deputy President and Mr Leon agreed that the Forum provides an important platform where opposition parties can be briefed on government activity, so that political parties can adopt informed positions on issues, and for Government to hear the views of the opposition parties on these matters.
For further information please contact, Lekela Kaunda, Chief Director: Communications on 082-782-2575