As Election 2019 kicks into full swing, the numbers, names and details have become available, much of it online. A healthy 48 political parties will be contesting the national elections, with 26.74 million – or 74.4% – of the voting population having registered to vote. Of this number, 55% are women. A significant number of registered voters, almost 25%, are in the 30 to 39 years age group.
The Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) recently announced that 48 parties will contest the national elections on 8 May. That is more than the 29 that took part in 2014 – a 65% increase! Will greater participation, however, give South Africa a better democracy?
The astonishing fact is that according to the IEC’s website, there are 312 parties registered at national level, and 294 at provincial level. The number of parties at national level shrank to 48 due to two factors. The first is the IEC’s own selection process, which led to 118 parties being de-registered and 29 applications being rejected. The second factor is that some parties (117) did not pay the registration fee needed to participate in the election. These costs are quite high – R200 000 to participate at national level, and then R45 000 per province. A party that wishes to participate at national level and in all the provinces will therefore have to pay R605 000. A smaller party could find it challenging to raise such a sum.
It is with the greatest concern that the FW de Klerk Foundation notes the 8 March 2019 finding of the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) in which it dismisses the Foundation’s complaint of November 2016 against Julius Malema. The Foundation lodged a complaint against Malema regarding a statement that he had made outside the Newcastle Magistrate Court, in which he had said, inter alia, that “…White people found peaceful Africans here. They killed them. They slaughtered them like animals. We are not calling for the slaughtering of white people, at least for now. What we are calling for is the peaceful occupation of land and we don’t owe anyone an apology for that.”
SPEECH BY FW DE KLERK, CHAIRMAN EMERITUS OF THE FW DE KLERK FOUNDATION TO THE FW DE KLERK FOUNDATION CONFERENCE, 2 FEBRUARY 2018 THE CONSTITUTION,
The Ad Hoc Committee on the Funding of Political Parties recently held public hearings on the Draft Political Party Funding Bill of 2017 (Draft Bill). The Draft Bill seeks to regulate the public and private funding of political parties. The underlying premise of the Draft Bill is that the contestation of electoral politics should be fought on an equal and fair basis, with the citizen as core consideration.
The reality however, is not the case as the increasing influence of money in politics appears to dominate electoral discourse, as opposed to an interrogation of positions, policies and principles.
South Africa is no stranger to the transactional nature of politics and in recent times #GuptaLeaks has exposed the invidious underbelly of politics in the country. This series of leaks has hastened the calls for greater commitment to transparency and accountability and for disclosure to become norm in political life and practice.
In an incident which has made global news, the First Lady of Zimbabwe, Mrs Grace Mugabe, is alleged to have assaulted a young South African woman while on a visit to the city of Johannesburg in South Africa. Early media reports had stated that she was on a visit to the country to seek medical attention. The most recent media reports, in line with a statement released by the South African Police Service (SAPS), stated that she was in South Africa to attend meetings convened by the Southern African Development Community (SADC). The Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO) has since, controversially so, granted Mrs Mugabe immunity. This has left the Zimbabwean First Lady free to return to Harare, which freedom she promptly exercised.
In a week that saw the media quarantined from delegates and delegates turn on factions within the ANC, Zuma’s frail proclamation at the closing of the Party’s 5th National Policy Conference, “there are no losers or winners at the conference, there is only the ANC”, rang hollow.
In this article, it is (again) suggested that the country needs a proper and credible land audit before we carry on with a debate that would otherwise remain emotional and divisive. It is, secondly, highlighted that some research has shown that we may have progressed further with land reform than we are sometimes led to believe. And it is thirdly pointed out that the real “land hunger” is not necessarily for agricultural land to farm, but for urban and peri-urban land to build houses and make a home.
Land reform, especially of agricultural land, is nowadays almost a shibboleth for South African politics. The reasoning of the associated rhetoric usually has the following elements:
“Soil is prosperity, and if you first possess land, you can buy all the other good things with that wealth.” And this usually refers to agricultural land.
“Historically, white people stole the land from black people and it has to be returned.”
“23 years post-democracy, black people still only own 9.8% of the arable land in South Africa.”
“There is a hunger for agricultural land among our people, like in Zimbabwe, and if we do not listen, we will follow the path of land occupation and confiscation.”
As with other historical events, many South Africans still remember 27 April 1994 very well. A day of long voting queues and goodwill, the feeling of a new beginning. It was the birth of the “New South Africa”.
After that, many Freedom Days followed. Numerous South Africans, especially those who experienced 1994, will regard this year’s Freedom Day as the lowest point of all Freedom Days.
Why? Because we see what is happening to us in the political, economic and social arena. There is great tension in the ruling party – about the current President, but also in the leadership struggle for a new President. There is talk of corruption and state capture by government leaders and officials. We see the economy stagnate and that our country’s financial system has basically been downgraded to junk status. We experience racial tension and an apparent total lack of reconciliation and shared values.
