DA bill aimed at blocking impeached individuals from serving in govt moves forward
Introduced by the party’s justice spokesperson, Glynnis Breytenbach, the Constitution Twenty-Second Amendment Bill seeks to amend three sections of the Constitution to achieve this objective.
The National Assembly on 23 July 2025 considering the Appropriation Bill to finalise budget 2025. Picture: Lindsay Dentlinger/EWN
CAPE TOWN- The Democratic Alliance (DA)'s bill aimed at blocking impeached individuals from serving in any level of government has taken its first step on the road to be considered a viable law by being published for public comment.
Introduced by the party’s justice spokesperson, Glynnis Breytenbach, the Constitution Twenty-Second Amendment Bill seeks to amend three sections of the Constitution to achieve this objective.
The bill has been prompted by former Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane and former judge president John Hlophe both becoming parliamentarians, mere months after being impeached by the National Assembly.
It was not until the sixth administration that Parliament faced impeaching a head of a Chapter 9 institution for the first time, and then the country’s first two judges.
READ: ActionSA introduces bill that would see removal of all deputy ministers
The DA's Breytenbach said the bill seeks to plug a gap in the law that prevents impeached individuals from becoming members of a national or provincial legislature or a municipal council.
"The people of South Africa deserve representatives that embody honesty and integrity, and allowing this category of persons found guilty of misconduct to become MPs is a slap in the face of honest, law-abiding South Africans."
The Council for the Advancement of the South African Constitution has made a similar proposal to Parliament's Constitutional Review Committee, which Breytenbach co-chairs.
READ: CASAC seeks to correct 'anomaly' that allows impeached individuals to become MPs
While Mkhwebane resigned as an Economic Freedom Fighters after a year in office, before switching political parties, Hlophe serves as the MK Party’s parliamentary leader following his impeachment last year.
Breytenbach said her bill is needed to bolster public trust in Parliament, and to increase the legislature's ability to hold other arms of government accountable.
The public can make submissions on the bill by writing to the speaker of the National Assembly by 31 August 2025.