Politicians are doing a
good job of pointing fingers everywhere but towards themselves in their search to
fund the #FeesMustFall higher education budget shortfall. Yet the political
arena is where the money can most easily be found. Not only by denying politicians
their luxury vehicles and other extravagances, but also by taking a hard look
at the systems that have brought us to this potentially Rubicon moment.
Start by asking, do we really need so
many politicians? Both the emotional
and practical answers are that we do not. Local Government in particular is overburdened by a political overhead
that makes municipalities generally dysfunctional and in many instances,
blatantly corrupt.
Under our mixed
constituency/proportional representation local government electoral system, the
Municipal Demarcation Board (MDB) is tasked with ensuring that every Ward
within a single municipality has approximately the same number of registered
voters. This action completely voids the purpose of using a proportional system.
Only where there is a need to balance
votes cast by widely differing constituency populations, spread over a wide
geographic area, does Proportional Representation come into its own. Courtesy
of the MDB, this does not apply to municipal elections in South Africa. [1]
The numbers in this case are
not difficult to follow:
9984 Local, Metro and
District councillors cost taxpayers around R3.2billion annually in salaries; of
these, 4782 are proportional councillors, costing around R1.5billion in salaries
alone.
We could dispense with
Proportional Representative Councillors, whom the MDB have effectively reduced
to the status of Ghost Workers, and immediately save R1.5billion in direct
costs. Add to this all the indirect infrastructure
and support costs, including long-term pension and medical liabilities to be
saved and the #FeesMustFall shortfall will most likely be taken care of.
Not only will we save a huge
amount in unnecessary expenses but, by returning to a purely constituency-based
system, councillors will have a direct line of accountability to the
electorate. In addition, making councillors accountable to the voters will almost
certainly have a significant impact on curbing current levels of corruption and
mismanagement. Savings to be made in
this area are inestimable, but all indicators are that it will run into the
tens of billions of Rands, which will go a long way towards funding totally
free higher education for economically disadvantaged students.
Two birds with one stone. Significant
money saved and accountability returned.
The obvious roadblock to this
political realignment will no doubt be put up by the politicians
themselves. The status quo suits them as
it keeps power and accountability in their own hands.
There is no doubt in the minds
of most commentators that the electoral system needs to be reformed, and quickly. As it stands, if we do not act to change the local
government system before the 2016 elections, then we will have to face up to at
least another five years of municipal ineptitude and corruption. Another five years of above inflation
increases in municipal tariffs coupled with declining service levels. In that same five years, many of our students
will have qualified and will be in the workplace suffering along with us. They have secured their short-term future
through #FeesMustFall. We owe it to them
and ourselves to secure the longer term future through electoral system change.
Now #PropRepMustFall.
[1] If
you have the patience to work through the numbers and theory that prove PR is ineffectual,
take a look at my previous posts.
