South Africans should brace themselves for a complete redesign of the country’s electoral system, which could usher in a mixed system of proportional representation (PR) and direct election of political officer bearers.
This is according to political experts Dr Ralph Mathekga and Professor
Susan Booysen.
They described this week’s Constitutional Court ruling, which declared
parts of the Electoral Act unconstitutional, as potentially a “disruptor” of the country’s electoral system with “far-reaching” implications.
The landmark ruling, delivered by Concourt Justice Mbuyiseli Madlanga, paved the way for independent candidates to contest provincial and national elections without being members of political parties.
South Africa has been using the PR system at provincial and national level since 1994 despite the 2003 Report of the Electoral Task Team, chaired by Dr Frederik Van Zyl Slabbert, recommending a mixed system.
“The current system does not lend itself to participation by the electorate in the selection of candidates. That is an inherent weakness in all systems using closed candidate lists,” read part of the report, which found that the current electoral system had its own weaknesses.
Booysen, from the Mapungubwe Institute For Strategic Reflection, said the ruling
was “potentially a major reset of the electoral system”.
“The PR system will be chucked out. Reset in terms of the electoral system, it means that they might adopt a mixed system. It will certainly disrupt the entire system. It is the total redesign of the system,” Booysen said.
While the ruling had major implications for political parties, she added, it was the smaller parties that would bear more brunt.
“Big political parties are still going to be big parties. Those parties are still going to continue with their culture of not sufficiently accounting. Small parties needed 0.25% to get into parliament, it’s something of the past as they will find it difficult. Politics will be poorer. South Africa have lost big time as big parties will grow bigger and would not be held accountable,” she added.
Said Mathekga: “In the history of electoral reform in SA, this is a far-reaching judgment with potential to actually bring about major electoral reforms. It all depends on the political will. It also wants us to think about direct representation. We might even go further and want to decide to even demarcate areas around wards and districts to vote on this.”
The political analyst, however, said that the ruling might even go back to court because “the ANC as a strong party is not about to allow reforms that would threaten the strength of the party”.
Booysen added that “two years is not enough to review the electoral framework especially during the times of Covid-19”.
Delivering the ruling, Justice Madlanga said: “It is the view of the court that freedom of association is negated if an individual is forced to associate with others. Freedom of association is also negated if other people are forced to join up with the individual. In other words, freedom of association implies freedom to associates and freedom not to associates.”
The judge added: “It is declared
that the Electoral Act 73 of 1998 is
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.”
Justice Madlanga said the invalidity of the Electoral Act would not
be retrospective. It would also be
suspended for two years to allow Parliament time to effect the necessary
legislative changes to the act.
Political parties had mixed reactions to the ruling.
ANC national spokesperson Pule
Mabe said: “Our legal team and our
legislators are still studying the judgment, we will comment later from a
rather informed position.”
The DA and EFF welcomed the
judgment.
“As a democratic organisation
we continue to support any efforts
that seek to strengthen our democracy as we continue to usher South
Africa towards a path to prosperity,” said Solly Malatsi, DA national
spokesperson.
In a statement, EFF national
spokesperson Vuyani Pambo said
the red berets welcome the judgment “insofar as it enhances our political democracy and interprets the
Constitution and Bill of Rights in a
manner that opens up our political
system to people of different political
persuasions”.
“It has been the practice within
our municipal government system,
and all legislators must participate
progressively in ensuring that we
make national and provincial legislation accommodating to the new
development,” he added.
Noting the judgment, IFP spokesperson Mkhuleko Hlengwa said: “We
expect Parliament to implement
the ruling and enable a swift passage
of this electoral reform. Howev er,
we are still studying this judgment
so that we can better understand it
especially as 2024 general elections
are approaching.”
The Freedom Front Plus head of
elections and strategy, Wouter Wessels, warned against the ruling.
“A change to the current electoral
system could be such that it benefits
the ANC and allows the party to
acquire even more seats in Parliament,” Wessels said.