Tag: Gravy

– Chris Bateman By Graham Sell* The appalling behaviour of ANC, EFF and UDM councillors in Nelson Mandela Bay’s council chamber on Thursday 29th March 2018 provides further irrefutable proof that once elected, politicians become a law unto themselves. South African politicians, however, top this list. In other words, 99.9% of South Africans earn less than most politicians throughout all levels of what we laughingly refer to as “Government”! Read also: Life in SA: Party politics trumps service delivery, every time – Graham Sell It is clear, at least to me, that South Africa’s Democracy (“A system of government in which power is vested in the people, who rule either directly or through freely elected representatives.”) is a Unicorn – in other words it captivates our imagination but is nonetheless just a mythical fantasy. However, under the Proportional Representation electoral system, it is the party that selects National Assembly representatives – not us. What this really means is that when we cast our vote in National elections, we are also meekly surrendering any, and all power we might have to political party leaders. Align National/Provincial and Local Government Elections, all to be held simultaneously: Voting a party out at the National/Provincial level in 2019 will not change the status of that party at Municipal level – you will have to wait for the next Local Government elections in 2021 for that to happen. Reduce the terms of office at all levels of government from 5 years to 4 years: This, for me, is an obvious no-brainer. Removing these ineffective levels of government or increasing their powers to enable more effective governance needs to be carefully investigated. Graham Sell is author of the anti-PR blog Disconnected Democracy.