An institution of which to be proud

As South Africa’s 278 newly elected local governments settle into the business of governing in their various areas of jurisdiction – and the all-important job of service delivery at the level of government closest to ordinary citizens – it is a good time to look back at the process that put them there, and the institution that administered the process.

It can be safely said that in May, South Africa had an excellent election process across the country. The massive and logistically challenging operation that facilitated the selection of 9 092 local government representatives from more than 53 000 candidates, with a massive 35 235 914 votes being cast, went down smoothly and without a hint of a shadow over the integrity of the process.

While other constitutionally created institutions, tasked with ensuring our young democracy functions in line with the high ideals of that constitution – such as the Public Protector – are presently shrouded in controversy, the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) did the country proud.

Since 1994 and South Africa’s first fully democratic elections, the IEC has established a solid tradition of an institution that functions with very high levels of efficiency and according to the highest standards of integrity.

It is appropriate to note in August – international Women’s Month – the gender of the leader of this most important institution: We salute Dr Brigalia Bam and her team for a job well done.

It is all the more a pity that there has been a slight drop in the percentage of women elected as representatives. As we report in this edition, this is, if anything, a failure on the part of our political parties – rather than of the electoral system as such – that not more female candidates have been elected.

It is noticeable that, with the exception of Cape Town, there is not a single one of the other large metropolitan areas being led by a female mayor. There is clearly still some work to be done on this front.

It is now important that the hard politics of election time fade into the background, and that local governments get down to the job of service delivery to their citizens. The stability of the country depends on it.

It is hoped that those who did not make it, or those who are unhappy with the new representatives of their political parties, will accept the results of the process and allow those who were chosen to govern to do just that. The time to call them to book if they do not perform to expectation is at the next elections – that is the heart of representative democracy.

Piet Coetzer

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