Tshwarelo Hunter Mogakane
Pretoria - Liberation activists from the late ’60s and early ’70s have called on South Africans to demand a referendum on how Parliament should redesign the way they elect national government leaders in the future.
The 70s Group has been concerned about the developments surrounding the controversial Electoral Amendment Bill, which was passed in the National Assembly on October 20, with 98 parliamentarians from opposition parties rejecting it.
According to National Assembly spokesperson Moloto Mothapo, the bill followed a June 2020 Constitutional Court victory by the New Nation Movement NPC and Others, who approached the apex judicial arm of the state to allow independent candidates to stand for office during general elections, which hasn’t been the case since 1994.
“The judges ruled that the Electoral Act of 1998 was unconstitutional, to the extent that it requires that adult citizens may be elected to the National Assembly and provincial legislatures only through their membership of political parties.
“The bill is therefore mostly aimed at, among others, inserting certain definitions deemed consequential to the expansion of the act to include independent candidates as contesters to (general) elections,” said Mothapo.
He said Home Affairs Minister Dr Aaron Motsoaledi introduced the bill in January this year and published it for public comment with a closing date of February 21.
“The portfolio committee on home affairs, tasked with processing the bill, received 107 written submissions and 13 oral submissions from individuals and organisations.
“The committee also conducted provincial public hearings in all nine provinces from March 7 to 23, where a total of 3 483 people attended the public hearings and 610 made oral submissions, 389 supporting the bill and 222 rejecting its format,” he said.
There were additional processes to get the bill through to the National Assembly until October 2022, when it was passed, sparking widespread alarm among those opposed to its current format. The bill is yet to receive a nod from the National Council of Provinces before it can be sent to the president for approval and signing into an act of Parliament.
The 70s Group, which was among the organisations that made submissions to the portfolio committee, is not impressed with the October 20 vote.
Its Electoral Task Team, consisting of activists Professor Lesiba Teffo, Omry Makgoale, Koogan Pillay and Oupa Ngwenya, suggested a new route to settle the disagreements on how Parliament should proceed with the bill.
“Three attempts have been made to anchor South Africa’s democracy to be in sync with the will of the people through an electoral system providing for their direct say in choosing leaders that have no difficulty to account to them. From the Dr van Zyl Slabbert report of 2002 through Motlanthe Foundation panel recommendations of 2017 to the ministerial advisory committee study headed by Valli Moosa this year, the matter is yet to be put to rest.
“The ruling by Judge Madlanga on 11 June 2020, following legal action by New Nation’s Movement, highlighted the unfairness of party membership as a condition to elect or stand to be elected,” said the task team.
According to the task team, a referendum is the only way to deal with the impasse.
“The time for one person, one vote, allowing for direct representation, is now. Holding the hands of time from making a clockwise move to meeting the wishes of the people can no longer hold. Give the people what they want.
“Parliament, whose obligation it is to ensure that the will of the people is felt, exercised and respected, is yet to hear what the people want. The reluctance of most members of Parliament to be held accountable by the citizens is cause for the avoidance of direct representation,” said the task team.
“Without the direct representation of the people, members of Parliament tend to lack the drive to change the lives of the afflicted majority. And so is the core business of democracy to change people’s lives betrayed election after election. What then is the good of democracy if it does not change the lives of those in whose name Parliament convenes?”
According to the task team, former president Thabo Mbeki and then-Home Affairs Minister Mangosuthu Buthelezi received two recommendations in 2002.
“The Dr Slabbert majority recommendations proposed that 75% (300) of members of Parliament be directly elected by the constituencies and 25% (100) members of Parliament be appointed by the party headquarters in proportion to the ratio of their votes.”
Pretoria News