GOOD Speech by Brett Herron,
GOOD Secretary-General & Member of Parliament
20 October 2022
Note to editor: This is the speech that was delivered by GOOD Secretary-General and Member of Parliament, Brett Herron, during today’s debate on the Electoral Act Amendment Bill.
Madam Speaker
Law making is an evolutionary process. Democracies are not born fully-formed; legal systems and jurisprudence develop over time.
Our role as parliamentarians is to oversee this development, mindful of our obligations both to the Constitution and the people we are elected to serve.
It is our duty and privilege today to give full meaning to Section 19(3) of our Constitution which provides that:
“an adult citizen has the right to stand for public office and, if elected, to hold office”.
Given our history, of centuries of disenfranchisement, we should heed the words of Justice Sachs in the 1999 judgment of August vs Electoral Commission:
“The achievement of the franchise has historically been important both for the acquisition of the rights of full and effective citizenship by all South Africans regardless of race, and for the accomplishment of an all-embracing nationhood.”
When the Constitutional Court later pronounced our electoral system unconstitutional because, in its fullest sense, it disenfranchised those who choose not to associate with any political party by denying them the right to stand for public office, it was an opportunity for us to evolve our election laws.
To bring the legislation into alignment with both the letter and spirit of the Constitution.
It was in fact an opportunity to implement a long overdue overhaul of our electoral system, incorporating recommendations of the 2003 Van Zyl Slabbert and 2017 Motlanthe Reports.
The Motlanthe Report recommended that:
“Parliament should amend the Electoral Act to provide for an electoral system that makes Members of Parliament accountable to defined constituencies on a proportional representation and constituency system for national elections.”
The Constitutional Court judgment – the majority and the second minority – makes frequent reference to interpreting these constitutional rights “generously”. But the Electoral Act Amendment Bill does the complete opposite.
Rather than celebrating our democracy by generously extending the right to participate, to all, the Bill is designed simply to achieve legal compliance and not inconvenience the Independent Electoral Commission.
The Bill essentially ignores the overwhelming majority of public input received from reputable civil society organisations with expertise in this field. This makes a mockery of the public participation process.
As lawmakers we should surely be able to grasp the importance of engaging independent thought leaders on subjects such as electoral reform, where members of political parties can’t necessarily be expected to be neutral?
The Bill before us amounts to unjustifiable discrimination against independent candidates with the inclusion of the 20% threshold rule.
A more sensible and logical approach to implementing the Constitutional Court’s judgment would be to develop a mixed PR/constituency system not unlike the municipal model – with which voters are already familiar, and that the IEC knows well.
It makes no sense to adopt a new, untested, unknown, exclusionary electoral model.
GOOD agrees with those in civil society who don’t believe the Bill meets the expectations of the Constitutional Court judgment, and is therefore of questionable constitutionality.
It is an opportunity lost for a more accountable and logical electoral system.
Sadly, Madam Speaker, we cannot support this Bill.
Media Enquiries:
Brett Herron, GOOD Secretary-General & Member of Parliament
Cell: 0825183264
Email: bretth@forgood.org.za
Janke Tolmay, GOOD Media Manager
Cell: 0733671223
Email: janke@forgood.org.za