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.
It
is blatantly obvious these people have no concern for their constituents, so why
on earth did they choose a career in politics? The simple answer is that
politics is just another business opportunity that pays better than most jobs,
not only in South Africa, but worldwide. The £77k per year basic salary for Members
of Parliament in the United Kingdom puts them in the top 5% of earners in the
UK, and the $174k per year basic salary for Senators in the United States puts
them in the top 3% of earners in the USA.
South
African politicians, however, top this list. According to SARS 2016 published
statistics, out of more than 19 million registered taxpayers in South Africa,
only 19,834 are paid more than R1million - a relatively small number of people that,
shock and horror, includes Members of Parliament, Government Ministers, Members
of the Provincial Legislature, Executive Mayors of larger municipalities,
Municipal Managers and members of Executive Committees in Metro councils etc.
etc.
If
you haven’t worked it out yet, a R1m+ annual basic salary puts most SA politicians
not in the top 5%, nor the top 3%, but in the top 0.1% of registered taxpayers.
In other words, 99.9% of South Africans earn less than most politicians throughout
all levels of what we laughingly refer to as “Government”! High incomes,
coupled with Napoleon Bonaparte’s observation “In politics, stupidity is not a handicap” explains why so many self-serving
idiots are in political positions of authority.
In
this parallel universe, politicians behave as if they are the most elite of the
elite. They indulge in obscenely conspicuous displays of wealth that serve no
purpose other than to impress “the masses” with their exalted status. Ex-President
Jacob Zuma has been seen wearing R500k Swiss watches, yet he never managed to turn
up anywhere on-time - ever; the Gucci
Marxists of the EFF have been seen wearing $1000 Louboutin shoes while driving top-of-the-range
luxury vehicles, only to change into their public-performance outfits of pristine
condition overalls and hardhats, neither of which have seen a hard day’s work
in their 5 years of wear.
Such
behaviour adds credence to the presumption that political parties in South
Africa are just for-profit businesses. Their “ideological manifestos” are simply
the packaged products they use to attract the largest possible market share of
voters. The bigger their market share, the more profitable the business
becomes.
Political
parties actively encourage their public representatives to throw National Interest
under the bus in favour of scoring cheap political points that might appeal to
their “target market”. They also
slavishly defend the corrupt and incompetent within their ranks, not in the
public interest, but in the name of “unity”, or because they refuse to
acknowledge their mistake in appointing these people in the first place. On the
other side of their perverse political coin, they severely punish those who refuse
to toe the party line when it conflicts with their individual ethical, and
moral imperatives.
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. We certainly do not rule directly, although every five years
we can freely vote for a political
party. 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. That they are so
disdainful of us for four years out of their five-year terms of office is
therefore unsurprising.
Even in local government elections where we can directly elect our
Ward councillor, the system is corrupted by having the same number of Proportional
List councillors dumped on us. I have written over 35 articles on why this is patently
wrong, so will not repeat myself here. Suffice to say that our Local Government
Proportional Representation system appears to be founded on the misguided
principle that having two idiots meddling in council affairs is better than
having just one.
The
Nelson Mandela Bay fiasco is an example of the “two idiots” analogy that also
highlights everything else that is wrong with our current political
dispensation. From the EFF attempting their “tail wags the dog” illusion, through
every other shade of disgraceful behaviour by the ANC and EFF, to the infantile
kindergarten antics of the UDM’s Mongameli Bobani, these idiots behaved
shamefully. That they did so safe in the knowledge that they will not be
sanctioned, is the final indictment of how far our democratic standards have
fallen.
Not
only has our State been captured through the actions and inactions of errant
politicians but we, the electorate, have also allowed established political cabals
to completely capture our democracy. The ability to vote every five years does
not, on its own, make us a democracy. We must also be able to hold our elected
representatives to account for every single day of their term of office, and
there must be enforceable sanctions for breach of trust.
So,
how do we even begin to drag our politicians back into the world of real and
effective accountability? To start the ball rolling, my “To Do” list
includes:
- Redefine more accountable constituency-based Electoral Systems: This is a priority as political parties, and their leaders, have demonstrated time-after-time that they cannot be trusted to put our interests above their own.
- Limit Executive powers: Our experiences with Jacob Zuma demand that we reduce the almost dictatorial powers of the President - powers that can be wielded at the drop of a hat, based on nothing more than the President’s “pleasure”.
- Define meaningful and enforceable sanctions for breaching an oath of office: Once again the Zuma years demonstrated the unlimited capacity of politicians to duck and dive away from accountability. This must be stopped, particularly when they use even more of our money to defend themselves against stealing our money in the first place.
- 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. Service delivery is a function of all levels of government, so why hold separate elections? If we want a party out because of poor service delivery then we need them out at all levels of government at the same time, which can only happen if all three levels are elected simultaneously.
- Reduce the terms of office at all levels of government from 5 years to 4 years: This, for me, is an obvious no-brainer. We must not allow politicians the time to become “comfortable” in their positions, nor the time to hatch complicated plans such as Zuma’s State Capture project. Reducing their terms of office by 20% brings their ultimate accountability around that much faster.
- Examine whether to redefine or eliminate Provincial Governments and District Municipalities: The way they presently operate is seemingly not only as very expensive middlemen for funds flowing from central government, but also as additional and perhaps unnecessary enabling levels for corrupt politicians and officials to syphon funds into their own pockets. Removing these ineffective levels of government or increasing their powers to enable more effective governance needs to be carefully investigated.
As
individuals we may feel the task of changing the political status quo is
insurmountable, but as a collective I believe anything is possible. To make a significant
difference, a part of the change must include the way we, as individuals, think
and behave in society. Democracy involves more than just voting every five
years. We must all actively engage not only with our governing structures to
ensure they deliver what we want, but with each other to ensure that everyone
in our fragile society gets what they need. If we all “live” democracy, then I
sincerely believe we can rebuild societal trust that our politicians are
working so hard to destroy.
