It’s enlightening to contrast what the late Frederik van Zyl Slabbert said with the views ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe expressed last week in the aftermath of the local government elections. In 1996, Slabbert said: "I believe the proportional representation system is a very important part of our electoral system. All I am suggesting is that [it] be refined to improve accountability."And here’s Mantashe: "This a strange phenomenon. In a number of areas where we have a majority of wards, we ended up smaller overall. We are not crying foul, but we are raising the disadvantages of the [proportional representation] system of ensuring that you give space to the smaller parties."These two divergent views show that in a maturing democracy, parties that win under the existing rules tend to favour the status quo, while losers tend to advocate electoral reform.It stands to reason, obviously, that parties act in their own self-interest. But a commitment to democratic values limits the t...
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