Leadership by appointment or leadership by election? That’s the crucial question facing the ANC and the people of South Africa.
It was in our faces this week with the swearing in as an ANC MP of Brian Molefe, an individual whose ethics are as much in question as the matter of which ANC branch he belongs to.
Having celebrated the 20th anniversary of the constitution of the Republic of South Africa last year, it is important to note that the constitution can only be protected and defended by the people themselves.
But how to empower the people of South Africa, as the electorate, with the tools to defend the constitution? That is the question of questions.
A critical resource when it comes to protecting the constitution are the members of parliament. If they fail, then the constitution will fail.
Therefore we have to employ the best ways of electing MPs, so they can be held individually
accountable for adhering to the constitution and conducting themselves with integrity.
Under the current electoral law, the power is actually in the hands
of the party’s headquarters and the population is powerless to directly elect credible leaders. It is at party headquarters in the obscurity of party offices that lists of candidates are complied for parliament.
South African parliamentarians owe their allegiance to their party’s headquarters, not the constitution.
This explains why the current ANC MPs trample on the constitution. It is only party headquarters that must be satisfied.
This was demonstrated in the Nkandla saga when President Jacob Zuma defied and initially disregarded the recommendations of the then public protector Thuli Madonsela.
ANC MPs shamefully endorsed that defiance of the constitution by endorsing the police minister’s report, which attempted to discredit and disregard the public protector’s report on that abuse of public funds.
Under the current electoral law, MPs answer to party headquarters where they are appointed, not the constitution.
ANC MPs look upwards to Luthuli House, not across to the electorate. We do not have electoral law that guarantees the safety of our constitution.
The problem lies with the 100% proportional representation system, with no constituency role in the National Assembly and provincial legislatures to make elected politicians answerable to local electors.
We, the people, do not govern under the party list system – and we cannot govern. The party list governs us, just as it governs the MPs.
Who controls the legislators? At present, we, the electorate, are powerless. The current system of slate politics relies on the integrity of the party leader. If the party leader is unethical the constitution will be trampled upon, as is the case at present.
You can have the best of laws but if you do not have political will at the top to adhere to them and the personnel to enforce them, the laws are not worth the paper they are written on.
As voters, we need to empower ourselves to defend the constitution by controlling and holding MPs accountable ourselves.
This means individual accountability to voters of every MP, with the selection and de-selection of candidates in the hands of local party branches instead of party headquarters (as at present), and also the power to directly elect and get rid of individual MPs in elections.
It is the responsibility of each citizen to defend the constitution of the republic but this can only really happen when we as citizens can directly elect members of parliament ourselves. Only then will voters be able to hold MPs accountable.
This challenge is not new.
When the ANC MP and chair of the standing committee on public accounts Andrew Feinstein was forced out of parliament in 2001 for investigating the arms deal, he described the National Assembly as “an empty vessel”.
Ten years ago, he wrote that the ANC had “lost its moral compass” and that the majority of MPs in the National Assembly “provide little or no oversight of the executive, who in turn pay it minimal heed”.
Today the situation is far worse.
As Feinstein warned back then, “were the executive to override parliament and set up its own terms of reference ... as the apartheid government used to do, South Africa would enter the downward slippery road to becoming a banana republic”.
The fundamental problem, he said were the “problems created by a proportional representation system under a party leadership that demands loyalty and is quick to dispense patronage”.
This had “removed the backbone” of ANC MPs, who had “ceded power to the party at the expense of parliament” and showed only “wimpishness in the face of executive authority”.
The current MPs are deployed by party headquarters and not elected as individuals by the people.
They are appointed as cadres who are accountable to those who appointed them, just like soldiers in an army who must obey their superior officers. They are not elected directly by the people of South Africa, hence their disregard of their views.
Yet the armed struggle ended more than 20 years ago. In 2017 it is a matter of utmost urgency that democratic accountability to the voters of South Africa replaces servile obedience to the executive command.
Having celebrated the 20th anniversary of the constitution, we must remember its implementation and safety are not guaranteed.
Rogue and despotic politicians entering through the party list system and then imposed on parliament, can continue to trample on the constitution so our republic is highjacked or derailed to become a mafia state.
When people such as Brian Molefe are ushered into parliament the people of South Africa must be vigilant indeed.
Omry Makgoale is a rank and file member of the ANC and a former member of MK in exile. These are his personal views.
OPINION: Molefe post to parliament a thundering wake-up call
It was in our faces this week with the swearing in as an ANC MP of Brian Molefe, an individual whose ethics are as much in question as the matter of which ANC branch he belongs to.
Having celebrated the 20th anniversary of the constitution of the Republic of South Africa last year, it is important to note that the constitution can only be protected and defended by the people themselves.
But how to empower the people of South Africa, as the electorate, with the tools to defend the constitution? That is the question of questions.
A critical resource when it comes to protecting the constitution are the members of parliament. If they fail, then the constitution will fail.
Therefore we have to employ the best ways of electing MPs, so they can be held individually
accountable for adhering to the constitution and conducting themselves with integrity.
Under the current electoral law, the power is actually in the hands
of the party’s headquarters and the population is powerless to directly elect credible leaders. It is at party headquarters in the obscurity of party offices that lists of candidates are complied for parliament.
South African parliamentarians owe their allegiance to their party’s headquarters, not the constitution.
This explains why the current ANC MPs trample on the constitution. It is only party headquarters that must be satisfied.
This was demonstrated in the Nkandla saga when President Jacob Zuma defied and initially disregarded the recommendations of the then public protector Thuli Madonsela.
ANC MPs shamefully endorsed that defiance of the constitution by endorsing the police minister’s report, which attempted to discredit and disregard the public protector’s report on that abuse of public funds.
Under the current electoral law, MPs answer to party headquarters where they are appointed, not the constitution.
ANC MPs look upwards to Luthuli House, not across to the electorate. We do not have electoral law that guarantees the safety of our constitution.
The problem lies with the 100% proportional representation system, with no constituency role in the National Assembly and provincial legislatures to make elected politicians answerable to local electors.
We, the people, do not govern under the party list system – and we cannot govern. The party list governs us, just as it governs the MPs.
Who controls the legislators? At present, we, the electorate, are powerless. The current system of slate politics relies on the integrity of the party leader. If the party leader is unethical the constitution will be trampled upon, as is the case at present.
You can have the best of laws but if you do not have political will at the top to adhere to them and the personnel to enforce them, the laws are not worth the paper they are written on.
As voters, we need to empower ourselves to defend the constitution by controlling and holding MPs accountable ourselves.
This means individual accountability to voters of every MP, with the selection and de-selection of candidates in the hands of local party branches instead of party headquarters (as at present), and also the power to directly elect and get rid of individual MPs in elections.
It is the responsibility of each citizen to defend the constitution of the republic but this can only really happen when we as citizens can directly elect members of parliament ourselves. Only then will voters be able to hold MPs accountable.
This challenge is not new.
When the ANC MP and chair of the standing committee on public accounts Andrew Feinstein was forced out of parliament in 2001 for investigating the arms deal, he described the National Assembly as “an empty vessel”.
Ten years ago, he wrote that the ANC had “lost its moral compass” and that the majority of MPs in the National Assembly “provide little or no oversight of the executive, who in turn pay it minimal heed”.
Today the situation is far worse.
As Feinstein warned back then, “were the executive to override parliament and set up its own terms of reference ... as the apartheid government used to do, South Africa would enter the downward slippery road to becoming a banana republic”.
The fundamental problem, he said were the “problems created by a proportional representation system under a party leadership that demands loyalty and is quick to dispense patronage”.
This had “removed the backbone” of ANC MPs, who had “ceded power to the party at the expense of parliament” and showed only “wimpishness in the face of executive authority”.
The current MPs are deployed by party headquarters and not elected as individuals by the people.
They are appointed as cadres who are accountable to those who appointed them, just like soldiers in an army who must obey their superior officers. They are not elected directly by the people of South Africa, hence their disregard of their views.
Yet the armed struggle ended more than 20 years ago. In 2017 it is a matter of utmost urgency that democratic accountability to the voters of South Africa replaces servile obedience to the executive command.
Having celebrated the 20th anniversary of the constitution, we must remember its implementation and safety are not guaranteed.
Rogue and despotic politicians entering through the party list system and then imposed on parliament, can continue to trample on the constitution so our republic is highjacked or derailed to become a mafia state.
When people such as Brian Molefe are ushered into parliament the people of South Africa must be vigilant indeed.
Omry Makgoale is a rank and file member of the ANC and a former member of MK in exile. These are his personal views.
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