PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE
STEVEN FRIEDMAN: Why party primaries should get SA’s vote
'SA’s needs a system that allows supporters to choose their party’s candidates'
If parties want voters to like their leaders, they had better let them choose them. Public discussion on the battle to choose the next ANC leader has taken on an unreal air. We are told Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma is "way ahead" because she is "actively campaigning". When Cyril Ramaphosa makes a speech, we are told excitedly that he has "finally" launched his campaign. This would make sense if ANC presidential hopefuls were competing for public support. But they are not: the winner will not be chosen by voters, but by delegates to the next ANC conference. Support for candidates among citizens has no bearing on whether they become ANC leaders — what matters is backing from dues-paying members. This means ANC presidents are chosen by a tiny minority of ANC supporters. The ANC won about 11.4-million votes in 2014; membership was about 750,000. So, only about one in 15 ANC supporters had a say in choosing the president. Since all parties’ members are only a fraction of their supporters, this...
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