Statement from GOOD Western Cape MPL Brett Herron, Secretary-General of the GOOD Movement
9 December 2020
Despite standing to gain an extra seat in the Western Cape should the number of MPLs be increased, GOOD rejected a DA proposal, supported by the ANC and EFF, in February, to expand the Western Cape Legislature from 42 seats to between 52 and 60 seats.
Now the idea is being mooted by the IEC – who suggested the size of provincial legislatures need to be increased during a briefing to Parliament yesterday.
“The argument that we need more MPLs to serve a growing population is outweighed by the unnecessary cost. We don’t need more MPLs; we need more capable MPLs, with the skills and commitment to do their job of representing their constituencies,” said GOOD secretary-general Brett Herron, who is himself a member of the Western Cape Legislature.
“Our economy was on its knees before Covid. The pandemic reduced it to rabble. The last thing we need now is to have to find a whole lot more taxpayers’ money to pay for extra MPs. The only beneficiaries will be the proposed new deployees, themselves.”
Increasing populations are a worldwide phenomenon, but so is increasing technology. New technology is enabling people to do a lot more, much faster, than before. Politicians could work smarter and more efficiently – if they choose to.
“In the era of the Internet, Facebook, Emails, WhatsApp and other electronic media –technology that was not available in 1994 – it is easily possible to communicate with a far wider constituency than it was when one needed to rely on handwritten letters in the post. Politicians in the old parties must get with the new times” Herron said.
“Waste has to stop.”
Ends…