Amendment Bill Withdrawn at the Eleventh Hour

GOOD Statement by Brett Herron, GOOD Secretary-General & Member of the Western Cape Parliament:

On Tuesday, 9 June 2026, the Democratic Alliance (DA) placed a Western Cape Constitution Amendment Bill on the agenda of the Western Cape Provincial Parliament for consideration today.

This Bill was intended to amend the Western Cape Constitution in order to add an additional six members to the provincial legislature, from the current 42 Members, bringing the total number of members to 48.

Then, at the last minute the Bill was withdrawn from being subjected to a vote because the DA came to realise it would lose the vote in the house. This is because an amendment to the Constitution requires a two-third majority.

South Africans are struggling. The cost of living is punishing families. Housing backlogs grow longer every year. Infrastructure crumbles. Unemployment hollows out communities. 53% of Western Cape families are hungry.

And what does the DA-led Western Cape Government bring? A proposal to hire six more politicians. At this moment, in this province, this is the priority the Democratic Alliance wants to spend our money on.

The justification offered is a population ratio — one member of Parliament for every 100 000 residents. But follow that logic to its conclusion: with the Western Cape growing by roughly 120 000 people a year, this House would need a new member every single year.

Each additional member costs approximately R1.6 million per year. Six new members: more than R21 million annually. Not once-off. Every year. Forever.

A BNG house costs roughly R400 000. That R21 million could build 53 homes – 53 families moved off a waiting list and into a life of dignity. Every year.

Instead, this amendment asks those same families to fund six more people to sit in this chamber.

South Africans are not demanding more politicians.

They are demanding better service delivery, functioning hospitals, passable roads, and roofs over their heads. They are demanding value for money from a government that seems increasingly unable or unwilling to provide it. This amendment offers the public more cost with no clear benefit.

It is the wrong priority, at the wrong time, driven by the wrong instincts.

It is a proposal that protects the political class while the people it is meant to serve go without.

We refuse to be complicit in that trade-off and we reject this amendment.

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