SOUTH AFRICA: A decision by South Africa's Constitutional Court has opened the way for the ruling African National Congress to seize political control of Cape Town, the only major city to elude its grasp after the local government elections of December 2000.
The judgment left the door ajar for the ANC to take control of KwaZulu-Natal at the expense of the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) should it decide to end its coalition with the IFP in the province and exercise power on its own.
The unanimous decision by the highest court in South Africawas the upshot of a quarrel between two opposition parties, the Democratic Party (DP) and the New National Party (NNP), after their agreement, forged in mid-2000, to merge to form a single party, the Democratic Alliance (DA).
The NNP, which in an earlier guise propagated apartheid, withdrew from the DA and concluded a "co-operative pact" with its old enemy, the ANC.
A legislative package allows representatives a two-week "window of opportunity" twice every five years, during which they could change allegiance without sacrificing their seats.
While upholding that section of the legislation that allowed councillors to defect during the window period, the Constitutional Court ruled that defections at provincial and national level require a constitutional amendment. The ANC should have no difficulty in mustering the two-thirds majority required for an amendment.