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21 January 1 995
1 would like to make use of this privilege to submit a few proposals with
regard to constitutional changes for consideration by the
relevant theme
committees of the Constitutional Assembly.
I also wish to declare that all my proposals deal with the effect that the
official transitional constitutional regulations and the
implementation thereof
has had in practice on the promotion or limitation of the democratic multiparty
form of government in South
Africa.
It all centres around the ... of the effect it has had on the fundamental
phenomenon of a government and political system of responsible
party-form of
government which has existed in South Africa since 1910 and which, in essence,
currently exists in main Western democratic
countries such as the United
Kingdom, USA, France, etc.
I wish also to declare that my proposals have a bearing on the knowledge that
I gained through scientific study, research and extensive
personal work in the
field of political practices in South Africa since 1940. For 15 years, from
1940 to 1955, 1 was an active, registered member of the National Party in
Transvaal during which time I occupied an important
leadership position and
served as representative (elected) in several senior bodies of the National
Party.
From 1 955 1 continued as an academic attached to the University of South
Africa to conduct a scientific study en to do practical
fieldwork on the whole
spectrum of political parties which have existed in South Africa until the
present day.
With due respect to the writers of the transitional constitution at the World
Trade Centre, certain drastic amendments were effected
to the constitution which
had existed here since 1910 of which the practical implications were not
properly investigated by the writers
of the constitution and of which certain
expectations existed which were not realised.
Within the first six months of the fist sitting of the transitional
government most
of these unfavourable implications were already noticed by many
parliamentarians and requests were being voiced for a reconsideration
of these
when the final constitution is written.
The most important aspect in dealing with the destruction of the existence of
a multiparty political system is the principle of proportional
representation,
which was introduced in 1993 with the election of members of the National
Assembly and which also had an influence
on other spheres of government, such as
the Senate and the provincial legislative bodies. It is on these areas that I
wish to make certain proposals for favourable consideration.
In view of the fact that the method of proportional representation for the
election of members of the National Assembly and the provincial
legislative
bodies did not match up to expectations by giving sufficient voter support to a
great number of political parties political
organisations and interest groups,
religious schools of thought, etc. to qualify for representation in the central
and provincial
levels of government and, indeed, led to the deterioration of a
truly multiparty system of representation and government in which
the voters
within definite geographic boundaries of predetermined regions - called
constituencies - directly elected their parliamentary
representatives, these and
other aspects of the transitional constitution should be reconsidered.
The method of proportional representation therefore leads to the
deterioration of the direct link between specific voters and their
elected
parliamentarians, which gives rise to the fact that voters can no longer hold
their representatives accountable for their
actions in Parliament if they do not
adhere strictly to their election promises or political mandates.
The most extreme consequences of the adoption of proportional representation
lie in the fact that the direct say of the electorate
in government and the
subsequent report-backs by their elected representatives have been
terminated.
Parliamentarians now have become "general' representatives without having the
same moral and strong conventional responsibility of
managing their voters'
interests, unlike the situation under the previous party-political
dispensation.
It had an influence on the 80 years' existence of tried, stable political
parties which performed basic indispensable functions in
the community and
ensured that the electorate could be organised and mobilised in an orderly
fashion to perform the absolutely necessary
functions which kept a stable,
democratic government in place.
The same system can be implemented once again, even though the electorate
of
approximately 5 million has increased to approximately 20 million voters.
It is even more important to resurrect it now: to educate
the mass of new voters
on politics and to prepare them to occupy the large variety of posts which are
necessary to govern and administrate
the country.
This lack of close
interaction with the electorate in general, especially with the
parliamentarians' own party supporters, as had
been the tradition in South
Africa since 1910, was immediately sensed by parliamentarians in the National
Assembly.
Much thought went into rectifying this deficiency without doing
away with the system of proportional representation and returning
to the old
tried system of constituent representation.
The parties then struck on the
idea of introducing as ideal that their party representatives are allocated to
certain party supporters
and other voters living in specific geographic
areas.
They had to serve as links between the National Assembly and their
allocated electorates and had to represent their interests in the
National
Assembly.
All indications are that not much of this plan has been realised in
practice.
It can be stated categorically that the above system for
"direct interaction" with the electorate is extremely artificial and will
never
satisfy the needs of the representatives of voters in the legislative system to
same extent as the old system.
The close ties that members of Parliament
had in the past in the old system when they lived and worked amongst
fellow-party members
were intimately involved in the party organisation and were
then appointed and elected as their candidates and their own lawfully
elected
representatives, cannot be replaced by an allocation from outside by the party
leadership.
We experienced how bad this "substitute system" worked after
the National Assembly adjourned in 1 994 and before they returned to
Cape Town
for the new session.
At the adjournment in November 1 994 it was declared that members of
Parliament would address a multitude of public meetings during
the recess to
inform voters about the business and decisions of the National Assembly during
the first year of its existence. The
voters would then also be able to go and
put questions there and give their opinions on the manner in which their party
representatives
performed their tasks. My research has shown that virtually
none of this was realised. I am not aware of any public meeting that
was
addressed by either the ANC, NP, DP, IFP, PAC, etc. Some members of Parliament
declare that they addressed many house meetings.
These meetings are usually
only attended by the party's own supporters and are confidential.
To make political contact, give political education and promote political
organisation amongst the ordinary voters, every parliamentarian
in the National
Assembly receives a certain amount of money to open offices in his or her
allocated area and in appoint staff where
the voters can go for information,
address representations to their parliamentarians or simply have certain things
done. My research
once again yielded very little about offices being opened by
politicians. It therefore does not surprise me that so little has become
of
conducting public report-back meetings and party offices because the same close
ties do not exist between the representatives
and their voters and therefore a
feeling of responsibility towards their "allocated" voters are lacking. All
this cannot be acquired
artificially. It will take decades, if ever to achieve
what existed under the old system. I would like to take as example the greater
Pretoria area. Under the old system there was one member of the House of
Assembly for each of the 13 constituencies, even though
it was only Whites who
had franchise. Now there are 10 000s more voters in the greater Pretoria area
and there are only four members
of Parliament and one senator to see to
everyone's interests.
It was a myth that there would be a great number of numerically strong
minority political parties and other interest groups in the
total electorate
which would be important enough and have enough voter support to qualify for
representation in the National Assembly.
To give them the opportunity of taking
part in the election and of ensuring that they get their rightful say in
government, the
old election system of "first-pass-the-post" was abolished and
proportional representation was introduced.
Since the constitution-writing assembly (Codesa) first met in 1 992,
provision was made to ensure that the greatest possible number
of political
parties would participate. They could all also take part in the first
representative election. The interim constitution
of 1 993 enabled them to take
part unhindered in the political process and election. The largest ever
political mobilisation campaign
in South Africa was launched. This would last
for months to prepare 20 million voters as thoroughly as possible to take part
in
the election of 1 994. Large-scale foreign involvement helped to educate the
marginalised communities on how to take part in the
electoral Large amounts of
money was supplied to ensure the success of the election. For the first time in
history all political
parties received large amounts of money from the State.
This was to assist them in paying their election expenses. 86% of the electorate
took part in the election campaign. Only 8 of the 1 9 parties which took part
in the election received significant and less than
significant support. 3
parties (ANC, NP and IFP) received 93,04% of the votes and 5 parties (FF, DP,
PAC, ACDP and MF) received 7,04%
of the votes.
The above result proved
that the proportional method of election does not always support the perception
that it will be to the advantage
of the smaller parties, as opposed to the
system of "first-past-the-post".
Proportional representation leads to the
fragmentation of the electorate into a large number of small parties, which
weakens the chance
of each party to gain enough support to qualify and gain
representation in the legislative body. They are then all eliminated.
In the
case of "the-past-the-post' it promotes the phenomenon that two or more smaller
parties co-operate to form one stronger party
in order to improve their chances
of remaining in the running during the election and thereby getting a number of
representatives
in the legislative body.
-The defects of the 'Single
member ordinary majority" method of election can be limited by the introduction
of the following practices:
1 . The introduction of qualified franchise for all
voters after a predetermined date. For example, a requirement that every voter
of 18 years and older should present a std 6 certificate before qualifying for
franchise. Here the playing field for all players
is being levelled by the
introduction of compulsory free schooling up to std 6. All voters who have
franchise when these requirements
are introduced will retain it until their
death, without having to obtain any further qualification.
2. The
geographically delimited constituencies which have to elect one or two members
for Parliament should, where possible, each
have approximately the same number
of members.
3. All political parties and groups of voters or interest
groups wanting to take part in the election should be encouraged to register
as
full-fledged political parties. Such parties should then again fulfil their
traditional roles. No other instrument can supply
the millions of new voters in
South Africa with the necessary political knowledge and expertise, that is to
take part in the political
process and elections as full-fledged political
parties which operate according to the known rules and conventions of the game.
For this reason it is necessary for the new constitution to be amended so that
it will encourage the creation of a multiparty system.
It is therefore
necessary for the system of proportional election to be abolished, since it has
destroyed the motivation of parliamentarians
and therefore removed the
attraction for the masses of voters to become members of political parties and
that has led to the destruction
of strong parties with large numbers of
supporters as is case today.
(in the attached publications which appear
in the name of the University of South Africa it is explained extensively what
made political
parties popular with the masses and enabled the parties to fulfil
the necessary functions to increase the electorate's knowledge
and experience of
politics)
The current crisis being experienced in politics, for example
where political parties are not performing all their tasks as they did
in the
past, such as taking a lion's portion in registering voters with a view to the
municipal elections in October 1995 and all
other tasks necessary for the
election to succeed, can be ascribed to the fact that there is not one single
party today which exists
and excels as in the past. The most important reasons,
as mentioned previously, are that the factors which made parties attractive
in
the past are lacking. Therefore, parties are not capable of registering,
motivating and mobilising the masses as they did in
the past and ensuring that
they all vote on election day.
Since the authorities are now, as never
before in the past, inviting the broad spectrum of the electorate to participate
in the writing
of the new constitution, the obvious way would be for the voters
to channel their expertise through the political parties and to
communicate it
in an orderly manner. The method of doing it in public meetings where the
voters are summarily transported to come
and give their opinion is, in my
opinion, rather comical. No, the knowledge must be gathered by the only
competent political instrument,
that is the political parties.
What South
Africa needs most at this stage is an effective broad basis, that is a
numerically strong opposition party, which will
act as official public watchdog
over the interests of the voters. That is, to ensure that all actions of the
government in regard
to legislation which is drafted, the manner in which the
country is administered and also how the country's financial affairs are
conducted, will be done in a responsible manner, without corruption and in a
transparent manner. The existence of effective official
political opposition
against the governing party or a coalition of parties of which the government
could exist, is destroyed by the
principle of powersharing and government of
national unity contained in the constitution.
After the first year of the
government of national unity it has already become clear that the second
strongest (numerically) political
party in the political system, which had to
act as effective opposition, cannot perform its tasks satisfactorily if, on the
other
hand, it has to act as official opposition and also have the joint
responsibility of drafting and implementing legislation together
with the
majority party, which is the actual governing party, and therefore democratic
government cannot take place. 'There should
be a full-fledged official
opposition party in he new system of government which can act according to the
tried rules of the game,
standing rules and conventions which were developed
over decades, such as we had in South Africa since 1 91 0. The present
government
of national unity, which combines the ANC alliance; SACP; NP and IFP
in the same cabinet has left the country without an effective
opposition. The
NP and the IFP's hands are tied. One cannot be part of the government and
fulfill the role of opposition. This
is a monstrosity. The new constitution
must therefore abolish compulsory powersharing and provision must be made for a
full-fledged
governing party and official opposition as in the past. Currently
all parties are talking about the necessity of establishing a
multiparty system
in South Africa, but they do not realise that at the moment there is no party
which conforms to the requirements
of a true stable party and as long as the
system of the proportional election of members of Parliament of the parties in
the National
Assembly and elsewhere exists, it will not be possible to establish
the desired multiparty system. The traditional parties which
existed before 2
February 1 990, namely the NP, DP, CP, SA Labour Party, Solidarity Party and
National People's Party (NPP) no longer
exist and those which still exist have
experienced such a serious relapse that they are current,, involved in a serious
struggle
to survive. The ANC has refused to become a full-fledged political
party and preferred remaining a "liberation movement". It will,
however
experience in future that this was a big mistake. The IFP has made a start by
establishing a political party, but has not
made much progress. The SACP, PAC
and Freedom Front (FF) are still in the very early stages of party
establishment.
However, all these good intentions will be derailed
severely by the "deficiencies" in the constitution which negatively influence
the establishment of truly responsible broad-based, numerically strong political
parties and which fulfill the important roles of
governing party and official
opposition parties, as well as associated functions.
If ever there was a
time in the political history of our country when it was necessary to have true
political parties with full-fledged
organisational structures which could
politically educate, motivate, mobilise and convince the millions of new voters
to take part
in the political process, it is now in the so-called new South
Africa.
The most complete description of the structures, competencies -
functions, composition, role enactment, participation in elections,
conventions
which are maintained and the main aspects of the functions and actions of
parties in all spheres which has enabled the
maintenance of responsible parties,
can be found in the two attached publications, namely INTEX AND
SAPOLI.
It can only take place within the Westminster system of
government. All aspects of the party system are consistently thoroughly
documented
by referring to examples of party practice. The best example used is
that of the NP, followed by the old South African Party - United
Party - and
later the Progressive Party,
To try rectifying the serious deficiencies
in the dismantling of our democratic, responsible multiparty system of
government - brought
about by the introduction of the method of proportional
election - by electing parliamentarians by means of two systems, namely the
proportional system and through the old system of direct election by voters who
reside in specific geographically delimited areas,
will not have much use. It
will lead to a stark division between the responsibilities of the two categories
of members of the National
Assembly. Whereas the directly elected members are
bound by strong ties to serve their voters and to fulfil the mandate they
received
in the election, those who have been appointed according the
system of proportional election will not be bound to their voters to the same
extent and could even
neglect the interests of their voters, without the voters
being able to do much about it.
The method of proportional election also
leads to the deterioration of the parties' election manifestos, documents in
which the elected
parliamentarians called on the voters to vote for them.
Because of the compulsory government of national unity and powersharing,
parliamentarians can deviate completely from their election mandate. This
frustrates the voters and leads to the dismantling of
the ties which connect the
voters to a specific party and this weakens the multiparty system which is so
necessary for our system
of party government.
A unitary state with
majority rule would be the best option for our South African circumstances. No
compulsory powersharing or government
of national unity. A full-fledged federal
dispensation cannot work, since all areas and communities are economically
interdependent.
We have paid dearly for the foolish experiment of Black
homelands.
If minority rights have to be protected, it has to be done
within the framework of one constitutional dispensation.
Reduce the 400
members of the National Assembly to fewer than 250. There is not enough work
for 400 members. Look at the Hansard.
Only a small number take part in
debates.
Abolish the Senate or give it meaningful powers. I have not
read anything in the newspapers or seen or heard anything on the television
and
radio about what happens in the Senate. Therefore, nothing has happened there
that has been newsworthy.
If a sitting should take place in Pretoria - to
hear evidence on submissions - I
should like to support this submission by
giving oral evidence.
AUTHOR: Prof Willem A Kleynhans
The two study guides, INTEX and SAPOLI were written by myself in 1987 and
prescribed for use by the Politics (Honours) students of
the University of South
Africa.
They represent the most comprehensive description of the
multi-party system of South Africa as an integral part of government which
existed in SA since 1910, until it was replaced by the tricameral parliament of
1 982 and then by the present transitional Constitution
of 1 993.
The
multi-party system was based on the theories and practices of the Nat-Party
(1915), the old South African Party (1911), the United
Party (1 934) and the
Progressive Federal Party (1 974).
My scientific research and knowledge
of this important sub-section of Political Science, namely POLITICAL DINAMICS,
include the study
of Political Parties, interested groups, voters' participation
in the broad field of politics and elections; political propaganda;
public
opinion polls; public and official decision-making by political parties,
etc.
The above-mentioned factors played very important roles in the broad
system of government of the whole South African society from
1910 until 1983.
My research was supplemented by intensive fieldwork of all the aspects of
political dynamics, not only in SA and
England.
The most important
characteristic of the multiparty system in SA was that the parties complied with
the essential requirements of
a responsible party system.
A direct
intimate bond existed between the voters as organised in political parties and
their elected representatives. This direct
responsive link between the voters
(political parties) and their representatives was seriously disrupted or
destroyed by the introduction
of the method of proportional election of the
members of Parliament.
-The proportional method undermined the firm
foundation of our stable party system and also destroyed the important
incentives which
contributed to the establishment of political parties with
masses of enrolled card-carrying members.
VVithout the re-establishment
of a geniune stable multi-party system of government in SA, especially to help
to prepare the millions
of new voters along the path of political participation
to make their contributions, this country will be in dire trouble.
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