'Travelgate' MP defects to ANC

2007-09-12 14:52

Michael Hamlyn

Cape Town - In the latest twist in the current floor-crossing saga, the ANC on Wednesday accepted into their ranks Craig Morkel, who was convicted of fraud and theft in the Travelgate debacle.

Morkel was a member of the National Party who stayed in the Democratic Alliance when that alliance broke up. When the Travelgate scandal broke, he was immediately suspended and it was clear that if he was convicted he would be deprived of his seat. He promptly outsmarted the party bosses by crossing the floor and founding his own Progressive Independent Movement.

He has now left this party - presumably because he stood no chance of being re-elected at the next general election in 2009.

Craig Morkel's brother, Kent, has just announced that he too is crossing to the ANC, from the DA, and with his web of interests and influence in the City of Cape Town and the provincial legislature, he is likely to prove a valuable asset in the battle to unseat the mayor of Cape Town, Helen Zille, the DA leader.

Financial gamble

It has no doubt been something of a financial gamble for Craig Morkel. As leader of a party in Parliament he was entitled to an additional R50 000 a year in salary, In addition, leaders of one- and two-person parties enjoy an allowance for office staff of nearly R130 000 per annum. Such parties also receive constituency allowances of about R90 000 per year, plus a share of parliamentary funding for research, amounting to roughly R100 000 per year.

So he is betting the additional R360 000 - over R700 000 for the next two years - on the chance of being high enough up the ANC's list to get back in again.

ANC chairperson Mosiuoa Lekota said at a press briefing called to announce Morkel's defection, together with those of three other MPs, that the ANC does not believe that the justice system requires punishment, but rather rehabilitation of offenders.

The speaker of the National Assembly, Baleka Mbete, called on parties to take the "strongest possible action" against MPs convicted of defrauding Parliament, and the first five ANC members to plead guilty were all dismissed from the House. Five of the remaining members were demoted from their positions as party whips, but all of them remain in their seats.

The other members crossing to the ANC on Wednesday were Vincent Gore, a former member of the DA, who left and moved to Patricia de Lille's Independent Democrats, and two women members of the United Independent Front (UIF ), Zintle Ndlazi and Nomakhaya Mdaka.

- I-Net Bridge (News24)