Floor-crossing 'a spectacle'

2007-09-21 16:15

Cape Town - Cape Town Mayor Helen Zille said on Friday she hoped the recent floor-crossing window was the last the city had to endure.

Addressing a council meeting, she said the "spectacle" of the past few weeks had proven again that floor-crossing legislation in its current form damaged democracy.

Zille's Democratic Alliance-led multiparty government survived a bid by the African National Congress and the National Peoples' Party to topple it during the crossing period.

"I hope that this heralds a new period of stability and maturity in Cape Town's politics, for the sake of our staff, and for the sake of our citizens," Zille said.

She said that if the plan to topple the city government had been successful, it would have led to a complete shift in the city's policy direction, only 18 months after an election, and without the voters having any say whatsoever.

It would also have disrupted the hard work that had finally brought organisational structure to the administration, following "years of chaos".

- SAPA