By Angela Quintal
Newly sworn-in Azanian People's Organisation member of parliament Dan Habedi may find himself in the record books as one of the shortest-serving MPs in South Africa's democratic parliament.
His career as an elected public representative rests on the Electoral Court in Bloemfontein which is to soon hear an application from the African Christian Democratic Party that Habedi's seat was incorrectly allocated.
The ACDP tried unsuccessfully to delay Tuesday's swearing-in ceremony. It had earlier threatened an urgent interdict, but opted instead for the least-cost option and made a special appeal to National Assembly Speaker Baleka Mbete to bar Habedi from taking up his seat pending the court's decision.
But the ceremony went ahead witnessed by among others, Azapo MP Pandelani Nefolovhodwe and the ACDP's Kent Durr.
Durr was present as he too was being sworn in. If the court rules in his party's favour, he may soon have a seventh colleague, with Azapo relegated to only one seat as in the previous parliament. The irony of Durr's presence was not lost on Nefolovhodwe who laughed with delight at the presence of the man he called his old friend and whose party wanted Azapo's seat.
Habedi, who is Azapo's secretary-general, is a 52-year-old teacher from Orlando-West in Soweto.
An activist during apartheid, he taught during the day and was a soldier at night.
Habedi believes his party has a very strong case to retain the seat as the Independent Electoral Commission's error was only discovered after the election results were officially declared.
However, he had no problem with "becoming a record-holder" and would vacate his seat if the electoral court ruled against him. "One thing about us is that we'll uphold the rule of law," said Habedi who travelled to Cape Town on Tuesday and visited parliament for the first time.
In his reaction, ACDP chief whip Louis Green described Azapo's decision to go ahead with the swearing in as unfortunate.
"It raises expectations. What happens if he has to vacate his seat again. It's not his fault."