DURBAN - Opposition parties have scuppered another Bill in Parliament by the ANC when they staged a walkout to block the adoption of the Border Management Authority (BMA) Bill.
The bill is at the centre of a fight between the ANC and opposition parties over the role and function of Sars in the collection of revenue at the border gates.
EFF deputy leader Floyd Shivambu said if the bill was passed by Parliament, Sars would be unable to collect revenue at the country’s border gates. He said Sars collected 30 percent or R300 billion at customs out of the R1.3 trillion it collected in a financial year.
Deidre Carter of Cope also warned against the bill, saying it posed a danger to revenue collection, and Sars’ functions would be taken over by the new agency.
Despite assurances by new Home Affairs Minister Hlengiwe Mkhize and ANC MPs that the bill would not strip Sars of its powers to collect revenue, the opposition walked out before the vote.
Deputy Speaker Lechesa Tsenoli said they could not adopt the bill because of the lack of a majority.
Parliament needed a simple majority of 201 MPs to approve the bill. But only 189 ANC MPs voted for it and seven opposition MPs voted against it.
This meant the bill was back on the agenda of Parliament.
The DA, EFF and other opposition parties rejected the bill, stating that it would take away the powers of Sars.
This is the second time in less than six months that the opposition has blocked the approval of a Bill.
Late last year, Parliament could not approve the budget because the opposition staged a walkout, leaving Parliament without a quorum.
In the past few years the ANC has been caught in similar situations where it could not pass bills because of a lack of majority members.
Yesterday’s events came against the backdrop of a tough debate in the National Assembly on the new agency that would man South Africa’s borders. The BMA Bill was tabled in Parliament by then Home Affairs Minister Malusi Gigaba in 2015.
Mkhize told MPs, before the vote on the bill, that the legislation was required to tighten the country’s porous borders.
This was a similar call by ANC MP Donald Gumede, who said it was not true that Sars would be stripped of its powers to collect revenue.
The bill was first proposed in 2009 to create a single agency to monitor and manage the country’s borders.