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ELECTORAL REFORM

Single party dominance has undermined our hard-won democracy and allowed corruption to become entrenched at all levels of government. At a national and provincial level, citizens can only vote for a party and have no direct say in which individuals are elected to positions. This prevents citizens from holding politicians to account, and corrupt and incompetent politicians are able to hold positions of power for many years if their party refuses to act against them.

The discontent with and failure of South Africa’s political system is most vividly witnessed in voter turnouts, with only 49% of eligible voters casting a vote in the 2019 general elections. We need to act as one to restore faith in the political system so that more South Africans feel compelled to vote.

What We Believe

  • The Party List System prioritises representation in the Legislative arm of government at the expense of direct accountability, and serves the interest of career politicians over the interests of the people.
  • South Africans should have a direct say in electing their Public Representatives through a mixed electoral system that combines proportional representation with a constituency-based system.
  • While we continue to advocate for Electoral Reform, our party will practice direct representation by adopting a Primary Election system where people can directly elect our candidates for public office.

Our Solutions Blueprint

  • Implement a Primary Election system for selecting ActionSA’s candidates for public representation at all levels of government.
  • Conduct periodical lifestyle audits for all ActionSA public office bearers, and ad-hoc audits as deemed necessary by the party.
  • Use comprehensive monitoring and evaluation mechanisms to ensure that our public representatives are accountable to the communities that elect them.
  • Remove and replace public representatives that fail to deliver on the electoral mandate, with a new candidate selected by the community.
  • Advocate for a mixed electoral system where 50% of Parliament seats are elected through the proportional list system, and the other 50% is elected through a constituency-based system.
  • Support the Constitutional Court judgement allowing independent candidates to stand for election and work with these candidates whenever feasible.
  • Support greater transparency of party funding mechanisms. For us, political parties with an annual operating budget of R10 million or more should be independently audited and the results made public.
  • Implement accessible online systems that allow citizens to participate in the political process more efficiently.
  • Make additional funds available for voter education to ensure that citizens understand and exercise their democratic rights.
  • To ensure impartiality, we believe that the Speaker of the House must be independently elected and must be a former or current Judge of the High Court of South Africa, the Supreme Court, or the Constitutional Court.
  • We will advocate to amend the Rules of Parliament to discourage unruly behaviour and promote productive debate. Parliament must be a place where ideas can be contested, and where solutions that are in the best interest of all South Africans can be agreed upon.
  • To ensure that the public interest, not party-political interests, is the driving force of government, we will lobby for cooperation between political parties and adopt a collaborative attitude in our dealings with other political parties.
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Act as One to build a prosperous, non-racial and secure future for all South Africans.