PR list system places too much power with political parties

IS IT any wonder that so many people are rushing to form political parties?

The benefits of being a party leader are enormous. The party leader calls all the shots. The leader of even a party with one seat can aspire to be the next premier or the next president of South Africa.

What is playing out in the Johannesburg City Council will likely happen in the other spheres of government also.

Under the closed list proportional representation (PR) system, a party is everything and the only thing.

The editorial view that the “political and social interests (of small parties) would be better served by joining bigger, more dominant parties able to make a dent in Parliament” is mistaken.

To join any party under the closed list PR system is to agree to toeing the line every time and all the time.

Ask Bongani Baloyi about that. These very small parties are not fancying themselves as alternatives to the ANC, DA and EFF. An outstanding politician will find it stultifying to be in a dominant party. In these parties it is “my way or the highway”.

Whichever party voters choose, they will remain the biggest losers. In 2017, the Motlanthe Report on page 568 highlighted the problem:

“One of the major challenges with the current electoral system is the weakness of the proportional representation system in holding politicians to account to the electorate.”

Members of Parliament are appointed not directly by voters, but rather by their party, based on candidate lists submitted to the Electoral Commission of SA.

This makes them beholden to the party and its leadership rather than voters, and places party politics and loyalties ahead of effectiveness and delivery.

In the given circumstances, voters of every hue and persuasion should combine to form a voters’ coalition and make common cause, after they have gifted their votes to whichever party they chose.

Voters will need to have clout and bargaining power. Without leverage, they must just vote and take what is dished out.

It will be far more profitable to focus on what voters will have to do to protect themselves than anguishing about political parties.