Electoral Reform Bill could shake foundations of SA politics, say analysts

The Electoral Reform Bill, which must be passed in parliament in June in line with a court order, could shake up SA politics, analysts say.

The bill has caused alarm, due to various defects, but the prospect of independent representatives in parliament should be welcomed, panellists in an Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (Outa) webinar said on Wednesday.

A change could force MPs to serve electorates better, dilute factionalism’s corrosive effects on public administration and encourage those wary of party politics to enter public service.

Outa is a registered non-profit organisation that exposes tax abuse and waste of public funds, especially through corruption.

In June 2020, the Constitutional Court found the Electoral Act to be unconstitutional for disallowing the election of independent candidates not associated with political parties. It gave parliament 24 months to make electoral reforms. The Electoral Reform Bill is before parliament, but has not been passed. 

“This gives us an opportunity to get new blood, new talent into the system, that isn’t bogged down by politics, by factionalism and genuinely wants to serve the interests of the public,” said Mudzuli Rakhivhane, a community activist with the One SA Movement and a former Constitutional Court clerk.

Founded by Mmusi Maimane after he quit as DA leader in 2019, the movement endorsed independents in the 2021 local government polls.

Outo CEO Wayne Duvenage from Outa said litigating to ensure proper electoral reform was inevitable. With the deadline weeks  away he criticised parliament for dragging its feet.

Mohamed Valli Moosa, an ANC politician, agreed that party politicians were hostile to change. “The ruling party and the opposition parties do not want to allow for direct representation and have some sort of allergic response to the idea of independents — the ANC, DA and EFF,” he said.

Moosa forecast important shifts with the new system. “The person will have to be more responsive to the constituency he or she has been voted in from and there’s a higher likelihood that person will think about, ‘What will the people who voted for me think about me when I go back the next time around?’”

Ebrahim Fakir, a political analyst and director at Auwal Socio-Economic Research (ASRI), said the current system’s defects were manifest in oversight failures with politicians “hamstrung” by their parties.

“The trouble with the system where the parties are dominant and overweening is that the individual representatives are left without any conscience to exercise of their own,” said Fakir.

He listed as examples of failed oversight “security upgrades” to former president Jacob Zuma’s homestead in Nkandla, in KwaZulu-Natal, a private jet landing at Waterkloof air force base in 2013 and scandals revealed at the Zondo commission.

Legal practitioner Zarina Prasadh predicted ongoing resistance to reform. “We are going to see political parties stick together, I think. That’s my personal view. It affects all of them to some extent,” she said.

The reforms were “long overdue”, said One SA Movement chair Michael Louis, but it’ll probably take litigation to ensure parliament acted.

“The ANC haven’t got the political will to do it, and I think with the big ANC conference that’s happening in December to choose their leaders they’re not going to do anything about it until after,” said Louis.

Though supportive of direct representation with the addition of independent candidates, several panellists flagged concerns about the current draft bill. Outa researcher Rachel Fischer added it was unclear if the June 2022 court-imposed deadline would hold or move.

batese@businesslive.co.za