Deepening accountability, stability and inclusion for a stronger democracy
Deputy Minister of Home Affairs, Njabulo Nzuza
Chairperson of the Electoral Reform Consultation Panel, Advocate Richard Sizani Members of the panel
The Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Home Affairs, Mr. Mosa Chabane Members of the Portfolio Committee
Esteemed guests,
It is an honour to deliver the keynote address at this prestigious international conference for South Africa’s Electoral Reform Consultation Panel.
As we gather here today, our country and our world stand at an inflection point.
South Africa’s longstanding economic underperformance, growing voter apathy, and increasing dissatisfaction over governance failures are being compounded by unprecedented global headwinds.
So, there could hardly be a more pressing or opportune moment for us to reflect on the reforms that are required to prepare our electoral system and democracy to face the challenges that await our country over the coming years.
The Panel will deliver its report containing options for electoral reform to me by the end of August this year, where after it will be tabled in Parliament.
Ultimately, this process will culminate in the tabling of legislative amendments to enhance the quality of South Africa’s democracy.
I look forward to receiving the panel’s report, and want to thank the members as well as participants at this conference for their work in this regard.
The Panel’s work presents us with the most exciting opportunity in more than thirty years to bolster our electoral system across a number of areas.
The first is accountability.
The panel is looking at ways to strengthen the link between the people and their elected representatives by introducing mechanisms to deepen accountability.
As we saw most vividly during state capture but also in the daily acts of corruption that undermine both delivery and public trust, South Africa is in urgent need of greater accountability from its elected leadership.
This obviously includes accountability in the form of arrests and prosecutions, but the Panel also has the opportunity to consider other mechanisms of electoral accountability.
There can be little doubt that in a society as diverse as South Africa, the founders were right to opt for proportional representation over a pure winner-take-all system.
But the question the Panel is now grappling with includes how best to balance the Constitution’s explicit commitment to proportional representation, with more direct mechanisms of accountability.
The second is stability.
As we have all come to see, South Africa’s current electoral dispensation does not adequately cater for the realities of coalition government.
I can tell you this both from first-hand experience, but also from the research I did for the book I wrote in 2018, called Coalition Country.
In this work, I examined South Africa’s electoral system and came to the conclusion that its rightful commitment to proportional representation meant that multiparty governments would soon become the norm in our country – as has subsequently comes to pass.
However, the warning I sounded then is more relevant now than ever: not only do we have urgent work to do to build a coalition culture in our country.
But our electoral laws were also inappropriately designed around the assumption of perpetual one-party rule, because they were written in the 1990s by negotiators from an outgoing government who only ever knew one-party rule, and by an incoming government who desired only one-party rule.
Thirty years later, we have seen multiparty governments become the norm across all spheres of government.
This requires us to urgently update our legislative framework to create more conducive conditions for multiparty governments.
Concrete examples of these lacunas include the fact that we have only 14 days to negotiate and form a government after an election, the lack of independent mechanisms to uphold coalition agreements, as well as the fragmentation and instability caused by our lack of a de jure electoral threshold.
Thirdly, this Panel’s work presents us with an opportunity to improve inclusion, by undertaking considered reform that addresses haphazard changes previously made to our election rules.
While the introduction of independent candidates was constitutionally required, this ruling effectively injected independents into a party-based proportional representation framework that was not designed for independent candidates.
This has presented practical challenges that we must now tackle.
Another example is the way in which South Africa manages overseas voting.
This area has also been subjected to court-ordered changes rather than considered reform designed to uphold the constitutional right to vote of South Africans abroad.
In other cases, unjustifiable differences remain between South Africans who vote abroad and those who vote at home, including by severely limiting the number of locations that can be used as polling stations.
This is another area that can be addressed through the work of this Panel to improve inclusivity.
The process we have now embarked on therefore presents us with an opportunity to introduce greater accountability, stabilise coalition government, and create an integrated and rational framework to accommodate the changes that have come about in recent years to improve inclusivity.
Fortunately, we are in a position to draw on the experience of other countries who have already grappled with some of these issues, through this conference and the broader work of the Panel.
However, it is important for us to also be clear about what the work of this panel cannot do.
Critically important as electoral reform is for the future of our democracy, it is but one aspect of a much broader reform project we need to get South Africa back on track.
Merely changing the way elections work is no silver bullet to fix the deep, structural problems plaguing our economy and society.
Whatever the changes that may be made to our electoral system, those changes on their own will not fix the water crisis.
On their own, they will not fix potholes, streetlights and broken municipalities.
On their own, they will not defeat corruption.
And, on its own, electoral reform certainly will not lead to the reforms we require to get our economy out of its current crisis, in order to create jobs.
This is important, because the source of voter apathy does not stem from academic discussions about proportionality, constituencies or thresholds.
The core reason why voter participation is declining, is because voters do not see the outcomes of elections improving their day-to-day lives.
Conversely, if we want to start increasing voter turnout and satisfaction with democracy again, then we need to undertake the tough reforms required to improve the daily lives of the South African people.
And, while sensible electoral reform can certainly help shape healthier incentives for politicians, it is ultimately the voters of South Africa themselves who must fix deep-
seated problems – by using the electoral system to reward politicians who work to reform, fix and grow, while punishing those who use office to corrupt, steal and destroy.
Anyone who promises us that the introduction of independent candidates, or constituencies, or changes to proportional representation – or any other proposal that the panel may make – will magically resolve all your problems, is deceiving us.
For far too long, South Africans have believed that what our country needs is some kind of messianic intervention from on high that will fix our problems overnight.
We hope that there is a silver bullet out there that will create jobs and prosperity.
But let me tell you today that there is no such magical solution out there that will rescue this country’s future.
We must rescue it ourselves.
In a democracy, it is the people who must do the heavy lifting.
That’s the thing about dictatorship or authoritarianism: they are easy.
In a dictatorship, the people are absolved of responsibility.
Because all power resides with the ruler, it is not for the people to make difficult choices.
In a dictatorship, citizens are not required to share in the burden of governance by using their votes to choose their own future.
Incidentally, this is one of the reasons why populism is on the rise, both domestically and globally.
It is also why populism always and inevitably slides towards authoritarianism rather than democracy.
Because populism offers an easy way out: instead of thinking hard about what change is required and about the consequences of your vote, populism does away with those messy complications by promising that a charismatic strongman will solve all your problems.
Of course, it’s different in a democracy.
For a constitutional democracy like ours to improve the lives of the people, citizens are required to share in the responsibility of governing, by voting smartly, by being engaged in their communities, and by protecting the institutions of State from capture and corruption.
The work of this panel is an important part of this process, because it presents an opportunity to give voters the ability to shape better incentives for politicians, by enhancing mechanisms of accountability, stabilising multiparty governments, and harmonising elections to improve inclusivity.
But that is also all it can do.
It is ultimately up to voters to use the improved system that will emerge from this work, to participate in democracy, punish failed and corrupt politicians, and reward progress.
The work that we have undertaken together, will constitute the most significant reform to our democracy since 1994.
It is work that requires the utmost care, because democracy is a most precious thing.
I encourage participants of this conference, as well as every South African, to support the important work that the Panel and Home Affairs is doing to build a healthier, more accountable, more inclusive and more resilient democracy.
The future of every South African will be shaped by the outcome of this work and the elections to follow.
Our democracy is not only important for its own sake, but because our vote is the single most powerful tool we can use to shape a better tomorrow.
I wish the Panel well as it concludes its work, and I call upon all South Africans to support this process to ensure that our tomorrow is indeed better than our today.
Thank you.
For media enquiries, please contact:
Siya Qoza
Cell: 082 898 1657
Duwayne Esau
Spokesperson for the Minister
Cell no: 077 606 9702
