The current electoral system favours political parties, particularly the ruling party, over voters.
However, power lies with voters and not with political parties. Unfortunately, voters seem not to be aware of that. If they were, they would be demanding an electoral reform.
But I digress. How will the 2016 local municipal elections be different from others? After 20 years of democracy, voter behaviour changes. There are also new voters who will vote differently from the older generation.
In addition, new kids on the block the EFF will take part in the municipal elections for the very first time. They are expected to win seats in most municipalities around the country. But it remains to be seen if they will steal votes from the ANC or DA.
And there is also a threat that the governing party may lose one or two metros next year. The ANC is more concerned about the Nelson Mandela Bay metro in the Eastern Cape. The deployment of Danny Jordaan as mayor is part of the party’s strategy to improve service delivery there and retain the metro.
The local government is in the coalface of service delivery. Yet voters have less interest in local government issues. Issues such as the State of the City Address, property value and by-laws, which affect them directly, are of less interest to local communities.
Instead, most people are more interested in working for municipalities than in knowing and understanding local government issues. People want to work for local government because of job security. Nothing wrong there. But what about local government issues that affect them directly?
Councillors are also in the coalface of service delivery. And as such, they need to be rooted in the ground. They also need to be competent, responsive and proactive in order to deliver the much-needed service.
However, the opposite is true from the above: our councillors are aloof and communicate less with communities. This results in protests, which mostly turn violent, and sometimes councillors’ properties are burned down. This is wrong, and can be averted.
Voters tend to treat municipal elections less seriously than national elections. As a result, local elections attract less voters. But voters need to change that attitude (of treating local elections as less significant) if competent councillors are to be elected. Otherwise, the status quo will remain.
