Voting bill ‘fails to create accountability’
Former president Kgalema Motlanthe says the current version of the Electoral Amendment Bill may not pass muster with the Constitutional Court because it does not satisfy the requirement that MPs should be accountable to the electorate.
In an interview this week, Motlanthe said parliament had sought to do no more than the minimum necessary to comply with the court’s order two years ago that provision be made for independents to contest provincial and national elections.
The bill was passed by the National Assembly last month and will now go to the National Council of Provinces (NCOP).
Critics say the bill puts independents at a disadvantage. It requires them to submit a petition of at least 20,000 signatures before they can run, while a party needs only 1,000 backers. The bill also dictates that an independent should pay the same deposit as parties — which often have access to more generous funding.
Motlanthe told the Sunday Times the Constitutional Court might regard the bill as inadequate because the MPs who crafted it, who were all in parliament thanks to proportional representation (PR), had taken a blinkered approach to accountability.
“These parliamentarians don’t look at the entirety of this electoral system to say, ‘The real issue here that needs to be remedied is that as public representatives we must be elected by constituencies.’ That’s the nub of the issue that needs to be addressed,” he said.
“But they don’t look at it that way. They say, ‘No, we are here, now we are told by this court that independents must participate, OK let them come. They must participate.’
“Then they work out some kind of accommodation. But that’s not the nub of the problem. The nub of the problem is our proportional representatives — these honourable MPs — are not accountable to any constituency except the party.”
Motlanthe said that to provide for accountability, the bill should allow for a hybrid system whereby half of MPs are elected directly by a constituency and half are named through PR.
“To accommodate the independents you have to say there’ll be a hybrid system at provincial and national level. Hybrid in the sense that of the 400 seats, you may say 200 are constituency-based public representatives
Either parliamentarians didn’t give themselves sufficient time or they are just not inclined to have constituencies and to have to run for elections in constituencies Kgalema Motlanthe
and the others are PR. So to get on the list of your party you must win your constituency.
“That’s not there, and I think either parliamentarians didn’t give themselves sufficient time or they are just not inclined to have constituencies and to have to run for elections in constituencies,” Motlanthe said. “It’s open to challenge and may not be certified by the Constitutional Court.”
Civil society bodies are also opposed to the bill and have made it clear they will challenge it all the way to the Constitutional Court should they get no joy from the NCOP.
The Council for the Advancement of the South African Constitution said last month it would seek to persuade the NCOP that the bill should apply only for the 2024 general elections and that a national convention should be held to find a lasting solution beyond that period.