Parliament collapsing through MP exodus a ‘spectacular misreading of the Constitution’
Constitutional law expert Pierre de Vos says any suggestion that Parliament can be collapsed by a mass resignation of MPs is a "spectacular misreading of the Constitution". In the wake of the announcement on Wednesday by the DA that they would bring a motion to dissolve Parliament‚ EFF leader Julius Malema tweeted the party saying this was not necessary as section 46 of the Constitution states that a mass resignation of at least 50 MPs would have the same effect. That section states that Parliament is composed of no less than 350 MPs. De Vos says in his blog Constitutionally Speaking this is a "spectacular misreading" of the Constitution‚ as this section purely determines the size of Parliament. "When the Constitution was negotiated there was some disagreement about the ideal size of the NA (National Assembly). Some parties wanted the number of MPs to be reduced from 400 to 350 or even 300. As a classic compromise the Constitutional Assembly devised section 46(1) which allows the le...
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