By Ntombenhle Khathwane
In the recent weeks, news headlines have been dominated by the textbook saga in Limpopo and Eastern Cape. This happens a few months before the ANC policy conference, during which it would be expected that the ruling party would discuss how to make its time in government more efficient. Although this was discussed, an important element was overlooked, and that is citizen involvement. Citizenship involvement in the broader South African polity is limited and it would serve the ANC and South Africa in general to increase the ability and impact of citizen participation by reforming the electoral system.
This year alone, government has been challenged through the expensive court system to deliver or to act in a proper manner numerous times. It was through a court challenge that Jacob Zuma was forced to act on the arms deal, it was through the courts that the rolling out of e-tolls was suspended and it was also through court action that government started to move towards delivering textbooks in Limpopo and the Eastern Cape.
What this points to is a deficiency in the chain of accountability because if government departments as headed by elected officials were under pressure to ensure they deliver, the rate of delivery would be much higher. This pressure would exist if SA had an open-list proportional representation (PR) electoral system.
The current closed-list PR electoral system is what creates a system of patronage and makes party members loyal to party factions instead of the South African public. Even though the ANC will argue that they ensure regional representation and attachment of elected officials through their constituency offices, the impact of a constituency office in bridging the gap between government and the people is in practice very little. After the normal voting process, the public has little impact on who gets voted onto the ANC party lists come election time. The closed-list PR electoral system also creates a hegemony of the party instead of a hegemony of the people because the party is in total control of who gets voted into parliament and possibly becomes a minister or an MEC and the people have no impact on the choices or the ability to choose who they think they will perform better.
Party insiders have always defended this closed-list PR system at national and provincial level saying that what matters is that there is a semi-open list PR system at local government level and this where it matters most because this is where delivery takes place. However, the recent publication of the audits of municipalities and the fact that most municipalities are failing to submit for audits illustrates that local government is very weak and unlikely to deliver anytime soon. The textbook debacle has a huge impact of delivery on a key area, education, which is a national and provincial mandate. Minister Angie Motshekga is able to be nonchalant about this huge failure because she knows that her lack of performance will not impact on her ability to retain her name high up on the ANC electoral lists, what will determine her continued political career is her relationship with the more powerful faction come election time.
As the ANC goes into conference in December and examines issues such as organisational renewal, it would benefit the ANC and the people of SA if the ANC pushed for a change to an open-list PR electoral system. The internal ability of the ANC to manage performance and curb corruption has obviously failed. The open-list PR system will make citizens partners in ensuring the public office bearers perform well. It will ensure that every politician works to the bone to deliver or else they risk losing their career. It’s time for the ANC to permit South Africans to become real shareholders in this business called South Africa. As shareholders, every vote will really count and impact efficiency, every shareholder will be keen to play a part in the business and every shareholder will be encouraged to know every part of the business called South Africa.
The current closed-list PR system limits democracy and doesn’t encourage citizenship and citizen participation, because what is the point if the party all on its own determines the people to be voted into parliament, legislatures and councils. The current electoral system permits very little real participation by the public and that is why government constantly finds itself under fire by the media and in the courts because these are the only ways through which government can be forced to follow a people’s mandate.
Ntombenhle Khathwane is an entrepreneur and social activist based in Nelspruit, Mpumalanga. She is passionate about democracy studies, identity politics and the African political economy.
The ANC will never change the voting system until it is obliged to.
I concur. I believe that an open-list system will also go a long way in breaking down the current trend of Azanians (I find the word South African comparable to Rhodesian) voting on ethno-racial lines. It may lead to a de-facto one-party state, which I think should not be feared in a decentralised open-list system. I would however argue that the constitution should be amended to make all political parties have open-list systems. Possibly where you could vote for your choice of party and then select from a small choice of candidates at an election. i.e. Party A Candidate A B or C
@Khathwane, this is a great article and you get to the root cause of the problems in SA politic. In SA nobody is elected by the people and accountable to the people of SA. The president, members of parliament and the mayor of various cities are all appointed by the party. These officials running the government can do anything they please without worrying about being kick out of the government. This country is far from being a democracy like many of the people like to call themselves. However, the same problem would exist if the DA would win the election because the same problem would exist. SA is now run by a group of unelected kingmakers and not accountable to the people. Instead of burning tires, the people should be able to go to their PR with their problems. So, say to you keep up the good work by speaking out on the sham democracy that the people got in 1994.
The biggest problem with the PR system is accountability is to the party, not the electorate.
Nah, this “electoral reform” is just a scam to try to break party discipline and make elected officials easier to buy, while eradicating all small parties and preventing new ones from arising. See any sign that British politics is immune to corruption? American politics?
Campaign for cleaning up politics by all means, but don’t drink the Kool-Aid, sister.
Right behind you, Ntombenhle Khathwane! From your keyboard to their consciences.
Every American president has had a sign on his desk that states “The Buck Stops Here”. With the ANC there is no buck and no one is responsible for what they do or do not do. Without accountability we have dictatorship and that is what we have in South Africa. The ANC can steal and corrupt to their hearts content, some of them don’t even bother to go to parliament. The circus goes on as clowns only appoint other clowns to do what is necessary – appear and smile, sing and dance to Zuma’s tune. If someone such As Angie is appointed to handle education when she knows nothing about education or accountability how can Zuma fire her we she is performing to the limits of her ability for a the job the he knew that she could not do? He too is performing to the limits of his ability which is 2 out of 10, or less, but that’s what the voters wanted and now that is what they got. And now to satisfy the massive ego that Zuma has, he is going to build a city in his name that has no hope of being anything other than a huge castle for all his family. One day, perhaps we will have a decent electoral system for government of the people by the people? Wishful thinking I fear.
It is quite ironic that those who claim to understand democratic principles do not abit by democratic decisions or outcomes. I say this simply because our system has been negotiated and accepted by the majority in this country and holds its safety and independence in the constitution. It is also a terrible and weak argument to attribute certain failures to our electoral system. In fact, why isnt this same argument made in the WCape against the ongoing unrest that prevails in that Province. But lets unpack. Those who call for a change in our electoral system is informed by the system that is currently applied in America. It is a right-wing argument because it calls for non-democratic processes and a strong capitalist intervention. It uses the examples of Bush and Obama and it says here is what democracy should look like. And yet, history shows us the type of war-mongers that America has produced in its Presidents. Civilian involvement in society today is fragmented. This is simply because activists are not true activists and do not understand their role and relevance in society. NGO’s are funded by right-wing associations and produces a weak civil society which acts as an opposition to the ruling party only. There are many disturbing things happening in the WCape today and none of these are taken up by this very activists who are our modern day ”moana-lisas’. There is no activist or NGO grouping today, that is celebrated by any community. Why is that?
Exactly how does the open list PR system work?
@Creator, the elector system in SA is a sick system and the people have no rights in that country. In the US if you are caught committing corruption while in office, the people will vote you out of office. In SA the officials don’t care what they do because nobody can vote them out of office. Many people serving in the government have committed criminal acts in SA but, nothing is done to them because they are kingmakers in the party. In the US many criminals are setting in prison for corruption in the government because the justice system is strong enough to take action against them. The PR system would allow the members of parliament to be accountable to the people that elected them to office and not to the party. The small parties in SA have no voice in the government the same way the small parties have no voice in the US. In the US there is nothing stopping one from forming a new party and it’s being done all the time. The speaker of parliament has gone on record as saying, the people in SA were too ignorant to make rational decisions about the government. In SA the president can take state money and spend it like he wants and parliament can’t do anything about it.
@Tofolux, the system that was setup in SA is not a democratic system the people have no voice in the government. If this country was run by the DA the problems would be the same. This government in SA is run by a group of kingmakers with no regard for the people. The kingmakers that run the government, fear giving the people a voice in the government, because they are saying the people are too ignorant to make rational decisions about the government. Democracy means government by the people and for the people and this doesn’t exist yet in SA.
Speaking of the US involvement in war, the small fires the US is putting out are necessary to stop big fires. You might not want to believe it but, the US is helping to keep SA secured.
@Becker, an open PR system the people would know who is supposed to be representing them in parliament and the electors would be able to vote for them. Instead of burning tires the people can go to their members of parliament with their problems.
Open or closed, voter-controlled systematic form of “regulating/controlling” democracy shall forever be flawed. What is the difference between being tied to the party from being tied to the individual for a period of 5YRS. Directly elected as an individual or as a grouping make no difference, as we “the people” cannot change these jesters when they start to be a public liability any time. Here is the REAL ANSWER, every seating parliament must be a subject to an annual referendum ….. to allow people space to appraised them on whether they are confident in him/her/them to continue represent them in CAPE TOWN, Provincial Legislature or Local Councils. Whether they are individuals (through an Open-PR System) or a collective/bunch/faction/cabal (through the Closed-PR System) is really immaterial. Americans were stuck with Bush for a period as long as the term of office, irrespective of he was smuggling their resources to his pals who are in the military space (or should I not say – Butcher Economic Sector). What is the difference really between being stuck with Zuma Faction-led-ANC (elected through Closed PR) and the Skull & Borns-remoted-Bush (elected through Open PR). EDUCATE ME PLEASE………!!
My point is, they are still going to canvas for elections along the ANC, DA, what-what lines. Each line will influence the outcomes through SLATES (a common practice in SA Political space). They are going to sell their slate in so as to send their dominant mafiozos to parliament as a power-block elected as individuals, acting as a cabal and accounting to no one (FOR A PERIOD OF 5 YEARS). Come election time, just like the current bunch ANC & DA (being their ring-leaders), they are going to dish T-shirst, throw rallies and use public funds to push for their “electionniar marketing tactics” through party interest-directed “service delivery”. They will still do this as grouping/faction/party in so as to bolster a dominant slate of the click that enjoys hegemony to push for their candidate of choice. THEN WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE???
SOLUTION:
a) Department of Social Development – must be stop from being a marbles-play ground for politicians, WE NEED REAL SOCIAL IMPACT INTERVENTIONS. You cannot expect a community to develop either socially and/or economically without empowering them to understand POWER RELATIONS in a perspectives competing environment. This has been acknowledged by the current Minister for DSD (this being capture through the recent stakeholder consultative engagements run by NDA), but I know they are going to do noting……….. Solution 1: RUN VIGOROUS AND RADICAL POLITICAL-EMPOWERING PROGRAMMES (Not ANC/Communist/Right Wing/Capitalist Propaganda), Consider Programme Content that will present all sides of the coin and let ppl decide on what they want. This is the first step in empowering communities to make informed political decisions that will impact on Voting outcomes aligned with ppl’s interest.
Solution 2: Introduce a standard system of “national, provincial, local referendum” on whether the current MPs, MPLs and Councilors deserved to be allowed to continue with their work. This will allow space for them to root out rotten elements as they will know that tolerating them will mean disbunding the entire group. This is expensive, but worth it to advance democracy. If we need to embark on Elections process for the sake of democracy irrespective of the cost, so let it be (cost can never be an excuse).
The founding imperatives of the Dept. of Social Development are characterized by Two (2) Main underpinnings:
1. Implementing Welfare Services (grants, social worker services, food support, victim support, health and psychological rehabilitative support).
2. Implementing Community Development Services (community empowerment, early childhood development, socio-economic activism, community self-sustainance advancement services, civil society strengthening, etc.) – but currently in this leg – SA government is playing marbles from ANC lead National, Provincial and Local Government to DA lead Provincial and Local Government institutions. In fact this is not coincidental, all SA politicians are thriving on dormant, apathetic, illiterate and intellectually bankrupt characterized population.
Hence I’m still adament that we need a Dept. of Social Development that is committed to meaningful empowerment of ppl to be the champions of their emancipation. This will ensure that we all (in majority) exercise our right to decide on who should represent us in government space at any given time as we deem fit. Currently with the current system of “controlling” democracy to voting concept and this proposed artificial “change” to the system to do the same thing but differently WE ARE GOING NO WHERE.
@Joffe, there are many things the ANC and DA have agreed on and one of these things are to limited the voice of the electors participation in the government. In 1994,the thinking was that the people were too ignorant to have direct election of the people to office in SA. Mandela and others thought that this was the biggest mistake made in post colonial Africa to setup a western style democracies, when most Africans were too ignorant to take part in them. When Malema got out of hand the party removed him but, if Malema had been elected by the people, the party could not have removed him. However, in SA the president of this country is able to control the way money is spent and this has led to widespread corruption.
@Sterling, the electoral system in SA is the most democratic in the world. This electoral system has been accepted by the majority of citizens in this country hence why should the majority suffer at the hands of a minority view? Your American system is tedious and expensive. It will not work in South Africa simply because of its impracticalities. The problem with this argument is that despite declaring yourself as a democrat, you are unable to abide or respect democratic decisions. That is a contradiction because this argument is dictorial. It speaks to dictatorship.I mean how can you say there is little participation by citizenry when it is citizenry who casts its ballot and makes its choice. This wishing for a westernised type of system is ill conceived. It is corrupt and it allows big business to dominate the choices. That leaves very little participation by citizenry. And if we thought that all these attacks on resource-rich countries are because of democracy, then really those rose-tinted glasses are too tinted.
@Tofolux, the elector system in SA is not democratic because the people can’t elect none of the officials to office and hold them accountable for their behavior. The thinking is SA is the people are not ready for a elector system like in Brazil, US and Canada because of a lack of education. When I was in Brazil, the mayor of Rio had to go before the people to seek their approval to become mayor of this city however, in SA the people can’t elect the mayor of Capetown. In SA, the members of parliament are all appointed to office and the people in SA don’t know who represent them in parliament. Tofolux, can you tell me who is the person that represent you in parliament? The people of SA were never given an opportunity to approve the elector system that you have in SA. The elector system promotes corruption in SA and the people can’t do nothing about it. The only weapon the electors have is their vote, to vote people out of office, in a democracy. In SA the people have had this weapon taken from them with this corrupted elector system.
We can have any system, its still up to the people to act. Look at the US, people have failed to take responsibilty, get disracted and look massive debt. Same as Rome. Our advantage is social media or free speech.
But South Africa is not yet a democracy, until there has been a change of power once, we are still then classed as a one party state?
It is not in the ANCs interest to change the current electoral system and tehre si now ay to force them to do so. Through agreeing this law we have handed a blank cheque to them to do as they please without being accountabl;e to anyone..No so-called opposition party will ever be strong enough to defeat them and even if there were, it is highly questionable whether they would give up power.
Well said. As they say in Chewa, ‘you’ve spoken like 2 elders’.
Only court will make ANC change how they do things. Nothings else.
very much impressed by a young lady from Mpumalanga who could so precisely articulate a matter of such national importance. I wish you could write a personal letter to ANC secretary and request an opinion from him as to why it is such an impossible thing to do now and today in the ANC. There is something may be we do not know that he can share with us.
@Piet, the facts that in the US people have max out their credit has nothing to do with reforming the elector system so, the electors can hold the people in the government responsible. Instead of burning tires and setting fires to building, the electors should be able to meet with their elected Representatives to discuss their problems.
@Sterling, lets unpack this individualism you propogate, notwithstanding that individualism is the keystone that makes the machinery of capitalism so effective.Imagine, this scenario, if you should point out an individual in society and say this one must represent, how do you or that person go about this representation in parliament? Please explain as I am quite interested. Also, it is disingenuous to argue that SA “is not democratic”. If you are unhappy about that state of democracy in SA, a principle which is enshrined in our constitution, I would suggest that you take this matter to the constitutional court to argue your case. It follows that which you suggest is therefore unconstitutional. Secondly, we have the most respected electoral agency in the world. The IEC is celebrated and lauded worldwide. In fact, we also have electoral courts. If you think that this agency promotes corruption and that citizens of this country cannot do anything about it, then seek recourse.
@martin#
Since you prefer the word Azania then i recommend my podcast story on the web under my name: nicholasjakari.com It is a fanciful adventure tale set in a place called Mzansi in the greater [somewhat moribund] Azanian Konfederacy [my interpretation of what the real African Union could have been] … There are currently 50 episodes available for your listening pleasure with at least five, maybe six more going up by Monday with the assistance of those fine fellows at Apple’s IShop. I anticipate about 96 episodes altogether by December.
The story’s title btw “The jonker Memorandum” is named for the late poet: Ingrid Jonker. Enjoy a tale spread across a couple of centuries.
As regards the subject matter of this blog i have no comment… Yesterday’s horror massacre at Lonmin’s North West mine highlights the reality of what happens when people come to believe that the ‘struggle’ is still ongoing: and that they are intrinsically voiceless. In the story i have just recommended you may discover [in a footnote] that the North West eventually seceded from Mzansi and teamed up with it’s neighbour, which i call by a more ancient name: Bamangwato.
@et, al. can we please seperate this debate from the tragic happenings at the mines. What needs to be considered is the fact that non-South Africans are contesting unions at the mine. Lets wait for the investigation to be finalised. In the meantime, our deepest sympathy must go to the families and friends of those who lost their lives.
Why not go one step further to real democracy an have regular referenda?
Anything less is an insult to the intelligence of the citizens.
@Tofolux, there is nothing wrong with individualism because strong individuals make a strong country. There is nothing wrong with Capitalism because people living under this system have the highest standard living in the world. The collective system hasn’t worked no where in the world because it doesn’t reward the individual. I asked you if you know who represent you in parliament and the answer should have been no because you don’t know. In a democracy the people should have a right to vote on their members of parliament and hold them accountable. In SA the people aren’t allowed to vote for their members of parliament and hold them accountable. What is in the constitution and what’s being practiced in SA is not democracy.
Democracy means for the people and by the people and this is far from being the truth in SA. There is a thinking among the elite in SA and this includes white and black. that the people in SA are too ignorant, to be given freedom. As a matter of facts, the speaker of parliament has gone on record as saying the people were too ignorant to make rational decisions about the government. In Ghana, the people in that country can vote for their mayor and members of parliament.
Tofolux, you miss the point. Our system is 100% proportional leaving who becomes MP’s etc in the hands of the party bosses, all the parties love this system. No matter which party is in power it would be the same and equally bad. The German system seems to me to be the best. One has two votes: one for the party who then nominates their people and one for a candidate in your electoral district thus giivng you the choice of voting for your party person but if not happy with it using your other vote to send it a message. Thus the party bosses only fully control half the MP’s.
Brent
@Tofolux, if you don’t want non South Africans to be at these mines, you shouldn’t take their money and technology. You can’t have your cake and eat it also with your false capitalism.
@brent, very good comment all of the parties support the current system in SA and this system isn’t democratic. The Germany’s gives the electors a voice in the government with their two tier system but, in SA the electors have no voice. The people should be petitioning their Representatives for problems in their communities instead of burning tiers or buildings.
@Brent, the people in SA don’t know who represented them in parliament with the current system in SA. I asked Tofolux if she knows who represent her in parliament and she couldn’t answer this question. The same can be said with the local officials that provide most of the services in SA, these people should be elected by the people. If these officials had to face the voters the dynamic of politic would change in SA.
@Sterling, it is quite presumptious to assume that I do not know who represents me. You see the problem I have with your assumptions is the fact that you not only generalise your conclusions but that you fail to take cogniscance of how we live in townships. We are very engaged with our political leaders, our traditional leaders and our community leaders. We do not operate in a vacuum. Our communities have meetings with all our leaders which is the norm. We operate as a community. Hence if you are prone to individualistic tendencies, you will not know what happens around you and you will be divorced from any community activity. It follows that you cannot impose your individualism on our communities, in any case we as human beings are not meant to operate on this level of selfishness. @Brent, your mother country’s democracy shouldnt be imported on us. But I am interested to know, how will you manage individuals with varied interests? How will you manage the divide between rich and poor? And how will you allocate the budget to where it is most needed? Noting that in the WCape the poorest of the poor is suffering because a middle-class, rich political party do not have the interests of poverty or the poverty-stricken at heart and that they are looking after the interests of their constituency only, throwing breadcrumbs to appease their not-so-rich supporters.
@Tofolux, you don’t know who represent you in parliament and you are not allowed to vote for the members of parliament. You can meet with the tribal chiefs and others but none of them have been elected by the people in that country.
Speaking of Brent’s mother country, if he was born in SA that’s his mother country. Obama was born in the US and this is his mother country not Africa. You should be carefully what you ask for because without those people coming from developed countries with new ideas, SA would still be in the dark ages.
In a democracy, everyone doesn’t think alike so, if the people want a different government why are you angry? Speaking of the wealth gap, the only to close the wealth gap is for the people to go out start businesses and become more productive.
@Sterling, this exactly why this type of engagement is unfruitful and adds no value. This lack of simple understanding and acceptance of experiences of those around you shows that individualism goes against the grain of collectivity in communities. I have also noted that you avoid the complicated or complex questions, I wonder y. That said, nothing of value can be drawn from you hence I am done with idiotic dialoguing.
@Folux, in Professor Mbembe’s book ” Postcolony” he talks about how the ruling parties in Africa had used the process of zombification of the masses. In order for you to communicate on this page, you have to be deprogrammed from that collective thinking.