Abstract:
It is crucial to the realisation of a functioning pluralist society that an appropriate
balance should exist between consensus and participation; government should
perpetually be aggregating societal sentiment and manifesting such in legislation and
policy. Society should perpetually refine such consensus via various participatory
avenues which constitute the connective tissue between state and society. In the
case of the South African electoral system – an instance of such connective tissue
– this involves an appropriate balance between representation and accountability.
Representation is required in order to ensure a plurality of interests is accounted
for, and accountability is enforced in order to ensure that such interests are
effectively and appropriately manifested in legislation and policy (a check upon
governmental capacity).
The South African electoral system in its current guise does not adequately
ensure such a balance. This is somewhat problematic in that, in the absence of such
a balance, substantial schisms may well emerge between public will, governmental
enactment of such will and codified consensus. There is an acknowledgement
of the unique South African socio-political context and an acknowledgement
that individual electoral accountability does not implicitly ensure governmental
capacity. Electoral reform – in addition to concurrent reform in other areas – is
undoubtedly a necessity in ensuring that South Africa becomes a liberal democracy
in practice as well as in structure.
