Time to change electoral system
ALTHOUGH it was far from how we practise it today, Cleisthenes's democracy set humanity on a path towards a more equitable and humane form of government, the closest we imperfect humans can get to balance the needs of the individual with those of the collective.
Even then it had detractors such as Thucydides and Plato, men who understood its inherent weaknesses and follies.
Why? Because hysterical majority rule is prone to regrettable abuses of power when the minority and individuals are treated with disdain and brutality due to their smaller size. This abuse invariably damages the collective through the removal of human "speed bumps", which enables an unchecked rush into the abyss.
In South Africa's case, decades of intransigent minority rule during the last century gave rise to intransigent majority rule in the last 15 years, which saw the establishment and entrenchment of corrupt networks in government. This is due to the ANC's cadre deployment policy, the dangerous blurring of the line between party and state which seems to have engendered a "l'etat, c'est moi (I am the state)" mindset among its leaders, and a disrespectful treatment of the opposition and critics who challenge ANC's many faulty decisions.
That parliament seems to have become a zoo of late is as much a fault of mostly EFF MPs as it is that of the ANC for its increasingly irrational and damaging protection of both President Jacob Zuma and speaker of parliament Baleka Mbete. In the face of this unyielding irrationality, the appearance of indecorous opposition was unsightly yet inevitable.
The problem isn't name-calling, middle finger raising or yelling "pay back the money". It's the ANC's unwillingness to acknowledge failures and mistakes that we need to worry about.
Explanations are owed: for Nkandla, the president and his entourage's ducking and diving, denial of journalists' access to Zuma's address to the NCOP, expulsion of journalists invited to cover an ANC meeting in Port Elizabeth, cutting the TV feed during unrest in parliament and the increased use of police to control that chamber, but none seem to be forthcoming. You see, a governing party which thinks it owes us no explanations may eventually decide it owes us no free and fair elections either, but a ballot paper with only one party and one candidate is definitely not the way to go.
Here's the truth in all of its starkness: our democracy is a sham because those who govern are chosen by the party which wins the election, not by us. In this travesty lie the seeds of our nation's destruction.
The time has come to change our electoral system and introduce genuine representative democracy to bind every elected official to the citizenry that voted him or her into power. Failure to do so will lead to the continued decline of our nation and eventual fall of democracy, because a government unaccountable to the people is a government which will feel free to ignore them and look after its own interests instead.
M Negres, Port Elizabeth
