Issued by Sonia Twongyeirwe on behalf of the FW de Klerk Foundation on 24/06/2025

Introduction

The FW de Klerk Foundation’s 2024 Human Rights Report Card offers a comprehensive assessment of the state of fundamental rights enshrined in the South African Constitution. Amongst others, it reviewed the state of political rights in South Africa (which are guaranteed by section 19 of the Constitution). These rights include the freedom to make political choices such as forming a political party, the right to free, fair and regular elections, the right to vote in elections and to stand for public office.

Political Unrest and Violence

South Africa held its general elections on 29 May 2024. This election marked a historic moment for the ANC, and South Africa at large, as the party lost the majority vote: Falling from 57,50% in the 2019 general election to 40,18% in the 2024 general election. Political unrest and violence led up to the May 2024 general elections, threatening democratic stability and discouraging the exercise of political rights. Between January and April 2024, 10 politically motivated assassinations were recorded. KwaZulu-Natal was highlighted as the province that was most affected by political assassinations, which analysts submitted was mainly due to intra-party clashes.

Independent Candidates

For the first time ever, independent candidates ran for election to the National and Provincial parliaments. This followed the passing of the Electoral Amendment Act, 2023, that allowed citizens unaffiliated with a political party to contest for both national and provincial elections.^. The Political Party Funding Act, 2018, was amended on 8 May 2024, just weeks before the election on 29 May 2024. The Act provided, amongst other things, for the public funding of independent candidates from the Political Representatives Fund. This significant change allowed independent candidates and representatives to compete more favourably against political parties, increasing the fairness of the 2024 general election.

PR System

South Africa currently uses the Proportional Representation (“PR”) electoral system. The PR system has been in use since 1994 to translate votes into seats in the National Assembly and Provincial Legislatures. Simply put, with the PR system, if a political party wins 40% of the votes in the election, it gets 40% of the seats in Parliament. This system is very fair and encourages a diversity of parties to be elected to Parliament. It also often results in coalition governments (which in the Foundation’s view is a good thing). In addition, it is a good system for a diverse society and can be the most suitable to ensure everyone is represented in Parliament. However, it causes problems when it comes to accountability, as elected representatives are appointed by their party, resulting in them being more accountable to their party, than to the electorate (“the accountability problem”). It also fails to meet other constitutional requirements, such as guaranteeing responsiveness and openness (section 1 of the Constitution).

How Does the Current System Work?

In the current system, half of Parliament’s seats (i.e. 200) are contested by independent candidates and political party candidates contesting the nine regions (“regional seats”). The other half are contested by political party candidates (“compensatory seats”). The compensatory seats are there to restore overall proportionality between the political parties due to any potential distortion created by the regional seats.

While an independent candidate may be nominated in more than one region,  the votes s/he receive across those different regions may not be aggregated for him/her to obtain a seat in Parliament. Furthermore, if an independent candidate wins more than one seat, s/he is awarded only one seat and forfeits any additional seats.

Cleary, this results in a system in which votes cast for independent candidates count substantially less than those cast for political parties. (It also fails to meet the constitutional requirement for proportionality insofar as votes cast for independent candidates will not result in their proportional representation in the National Assembly or provincial assemblies.) Not to mention the high degree of wasted votes, because independent candidates will only be awarded one seat, even if they win more than one seat. The Foundation believes that it speaks volumes that not a single independent candidate was able to win a seat in the National Assembly.

The Need to Reform the System

In August 2024, the Electoral Reform Consultation Panel invited public comments on how/if the PR system should be reformed. For the reasons set out above, the Foundation believes that electoral reform is not only justified, but that it is very necessary.

The Foundation, amongst others, made a written submission to the Panel, proposing a constitutionally compliant electoral system that would increase resilience against state capture: A mixed member proportional system with 250 single member constituencies and 150 PR representatives. Independent candidates would stand in just one constituency and together with associates nationally. Voters would be enabled to recall an underperforming representative. This would bring representatives closer to the people, increasing transparency and accountability in the electoral system as Parliament would be directly accountable to its electorate.

Conclusion

The 2024 general election showed both the strengths and weaknesses of South Africa’s democratic framework: While the inclusion of independent candidates marked a step forward in expanding political rights, the structural limitations of the current electoral system undermined their ability to compete fairly against entire political parties. Additionally, the violence preceding the election further showed how the free exercise of political rights is suppressed.

These challenges underscore the urgent need for electoral reform to uphold the constitutional requirements of accountability, responsiveness and openness. Reforming the PR system to include direct constituency links and recall mechanisms would strengthen the bond between elected representatives and the electorate, making political rights not just theoretical, but truly actionable.

For a deeper analysis of these issues and their implications for South Africa’s democracy, see the FW de Klerk Foundation’s 2024 Human Rights Report Card.