Don’t ‘donate’ votes to any candidate

At school, my favourite science experiment was extracting copper from copper sulphate through the immersion of certain metallic substances into the blue solution or high temperature heating to crystallise into the non-ferrous metal.

I am reminded of this laboratory activity by what some voters will attempt to do during the May 8 elections. They want to separate the leader from his political party, something that cannot be done by chemical means.

I’ve encountered a dozen people, mainly young, bragging about “donating” their votes to Cyril Ramaphosa, although they hate his political party … as if the leader and the party can be separated like copper from copper sulphate.

This is the conundrum presented by our proportional representation (PR) system where you vote for a party instead of directly for your parliamentary representative. In terms of PR, even if people want to vote for their MPs and MPLs, they can’t – but have to put their crosses next to political parties.

That is how we got Jacob Zuma, who was the worst president our democracy has seen, a Desmond van Rooyen as minister of finance overnight in 2015, and Brian Molefe as an MP for Hartbeespoort without the residents there knowing about it.

ANC’s own study recently shows that Ramaphosa is more popular than the party. As far as approval goes, he could get more than the two-thirds majority his party struggles to achieve.

To many, Cyril has become the saviour – a Moses who helped them cross their Red Sea after all the troubles they suffered under Pharaoh in Egypt. They see the land of milk and honey on the horizon, but still languish in the desert, where God’s manna is yet to come.

The ANC should be grateful to Ramaphosa for the “gratitude votes” he might bring it in May.

Many who left the ANC or were part of the current voter apathy caused by disgruntlement against the ruling party’s failures and the Zuma factor, say they are returning because of Ramaphosa.

They believe Ramaphosa removed Zuma and thereby restored their hope about the future.

Cape Town-based political analyst Sanusha Naidu was correct to suggest that the time for electoral reform has arrived.

She says a system that would give voters a say in who should represent them is long overdue. “A president and all public representatives elected directly would be accountable to the voters.”

As a result of the constituency system partly applied at local government level, I have seen many ward councillors being voted out for failing to deliver.

A good example of how the PR system failed the electorate was when some councillors in Buffalo City embezzled funds meant for the late Nelson Mandela’s memorial service in 2013 … but with no consequences from their party.

Similarly, at neighouring Amahlathi Municipality, the auditor-general found that councillors misused council funds meant for housing and better roads.

The anguished residents resorted to burning down their town, Stutterheim, and Mlungisi township.

Separating copper from copper sulphate is possible as our school experiment proved, but trying to separate Ramaphosa from the ANC or any leader from his or her party is a futile exercise.

The party system has not only failed voters but rendered our democracy useless as well.

Eric Naki

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