By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Former President Thabo Mbeki has criticised Electoral Amendment Bill that has been passed by Parliament which seeks to give independent candidates the right to participate in the National and Provincial Elections in line with the Bill of Rights
The Electoral Amendment Bill was necessitated by an 11 June 2020 Constitutional Court ruling that declared the Electoral Act unconstitutional “to the extent that it requires that adult citizens may be elected to the National Assembly and provincial legislatures only through their membership of political parties”.
The apex court then suspended the declaration of unconstitutionality for “24 months to afford Parliament an opportunity to remedy the defect giving rise to the unconstitutionality”.
Speaking at the annual general meeting of the Strategic Dialogue Group (SDG) on Saturday, Mbeki said he was appalled by ANC leaders who suggested that the party designs electoral policy to ensure it wins elections.
“When the matter was discussed at the national executive committee (NEC) not long ago, you have members of the NEC of the ANC saying we must write the electoral law so that the ANC wins. Comrades cited examples to reinforce this point. How can the ANC design electoral policy so that it wins? ANC must design an electoral policy to advance the democratic revolution,” Mbeki said.
He said electoral policy discussions indicated the ANC’s lack of leadership.
“It tells you something about what happened to our leadership where you have people sitting in the national executive committee who think the ANC can design policies just to benefit itself,” the former president said.
Electoral reform campaigner Valli Moosa, who headed an inter-ministerial committee that advocated the introduction of a constituency system alongside proportional representation party lists, said he believed few people in the ANC leadership understood the system they were putting in place.
On Friday, the Rivonia Circle echoed other civil organisations who were contesting the controversial Electoral Amendment Bill, saying the bill in its current form remained unconstitutional and it must be challenged.
The National Assembly on Thursday voted by 232 votes to 98 to pass the bill that will allow individuals to stand for elected office as independents, but has been lamented by observers as a missed opportunity for thorough reform to enhance political accountability.