By Philda Essop and Theresa Smith
Lennit Max, the former Western Cape police commissioner and Independent Democrat member who has been fighting expulsion from the party, has joined the Democratic Alliance (DA) on the first day of the 14-day floor-crossing period.
And early on Thursday the ANC announced that, for the first time, it has a majority in the provincial legislature, after four New National Party (NNP) members joined the party.
They are Health MEC Pierre Uys, Agriculture MEC Cobus Dowry, Joyce Witbooi and Ellen Prins. This means the ANC has 23 seats in the 42-seat legislature.
National NNP MP Freddie Adams also crossed to the ANC.
A muddle of court hearings and disciplinary hearings marked Thursday's beginning of the floor-crossing window period, which ends on September 14.
Max was at the centre of the confusion. After being expelled from Patricia de Lille's party, he went to the High Court after the party refused him an internal appeal hearing. The court ruled in his favour, but in the meantime the ID has brought another disciplinary action against him.
At issue was his determination to hang on to his ID party membership until Thursday so that he could take his provincial legislature seat with him to the DA. Had his membership ended, he would have been replaced on the ID list by someone else, and therefore lost some of his value to the DA.
While Max's hearings were happening in the High Court, the provincial legislature also sought a High Court order to clarify whether his expulsion had left a vacancy in the legislature. The court found there was no vacancy.
But late last night the ID asked the Speaker, Shaun Byneveldt, to declare a vacancy because Max had been found guilty on a second disciplinary charge.
But Byneveldt refused, referring to the decision by the High Court that there was no vacancy.
"I am very pleased that Max is joining us as I think he is a valuable asset," said DA provincial leader Theuns Botha.
Meanwhile, six United Democratic Movement (UDM) members who were expelled from the party will have to wait until September 8 for their High Court appearance.
They secured an urgent court interdict from the Cape High court last night to make sure that their seats could not be filled. Their position will only be clear after the case has been finalised.
Zolile Suswana, UDM legislature member, said he would defect, but only after September 8.
ANC provincial chief whip Max Ozinsky described Thursday as a "great occasion".
"There have been some sceptics who said that the ANC is moving nowhere. As we move to the local government elections we are confident that we will do well."