Local government elections results show a slight decline in the number of women councillors {writer:Zahn du Toit}

The 2011 local government elections witnessed a slight decline in women’s representation as councillors at local government level. This happened despite the fact that the percentage of female candidates has gone up from 35% in 2006 to 37% in 2011. It does, however, mean that in terms of getting themselves elected, women have done one percentage point better than their percentage share in the number of candidates put forward.

This development comes at the very moment that South Africa should be redoubling its efforts to achieve gender parity, and underscores the need for a legislated quota for women in national and local elections, states Gender Links, a Johannesburg-based research and advocacy non-governmental organisation (NGO), following a gender analysis of the results of the 18 May local government elections.

According to the Gender Links analysis, women now constitute 38% of councillors, following the polls – down from 40% in 2006. It predicts this outcome to the exact percentage point, based on an analysis of the likely decline in support for the ANC, the only party that endeavoured (but did not quite succeed) in fielding equal numbers of women and men candidates in ward and proportional representation (PR) seats.

While the main opposition, the Democratic Alliance (DA), is led by two prominent women, Helen Zille and Patricia de Lille (former leader of the Independent Democrats), the party opposes quotas.

The local government elections again witnessed a war of words between Zille and the ANC over her having an all-male Cabinet in the Western Cape where she is premier, after De Lille moved from the provincial Cabinet to become mayor of Cape Town.

Zille counter-accused the ANC of fielding very few women for mayors of the new councils.

The role of culture

Whether all the ‘blame’ for the apparent ‘under-representation’ of women on the parties’ candidates lists can be put on the shoulders of the political parties themselves, is not all that clear. A broader cultural bias within communities probably plays a role.

The table above shows that women did slightly better on party lists of PR seats than as ward candidates, which are typically selected at grassroots branch structures.

Overview of the gender outcomes of the 2011 SA local government elections

“Unless the ANC succeeds in its current endeavours to get national and local election dates synchronised, leading to an unexpected round of local elections along with the scheduled national elections in 2014, South Africa has missed the chance (so enticingly possible) of achieving the parity target at the local level on time, since the next local elections would ordinarily be in 2016,” it adds.

Future legislation

“Ironically, as South Africa prepared for the 2011 local elections, the Minister of Women, Children and People with Disabilities Lulu Xingwana put the finishing touches on the Gender Equality Bill that would result in punitive measures for companies and individuals that do not meet the government’s gender equality targets,” the NGO said in a statement at the time of the release of its study conducted by Colleen Lowe Morna and Ntombi Mbadlanyana.

“Yet, the government did not seize the call made by NGOs, the Independent Electoral Commission and the Commission for Gender Equality (CGE) to legislate quotas for women’s representation in South African elections so that this is not left to the whims of political parties.

“The gender analysis of the 2011 elections contained in this (Gender Links) report demonstrates clearly how leaving women’s representation to political parties is fraught with problems, and why a legislated quota is urgently required if South Africa is to meet its 2015 obligations,” it added.

The extent to which it is practical or even constitutionally possible to legally enforce quotas to the level of absolute parity remains open to debate.

No less than 121 political parties participated in the 2011 municipal elections. Some of these parties were as small as fielding a single candidate. What would happen if a party had an uneven number of candidates – particularly if the number were below 10?

Under the Constitution, it is possible – at least in theory – for someone to form a party on the grounds that he/she believes that only men should be in positions of government, and to campaign on that basis. It is doubtful that this right can be taken away without violating a number of constitutional rights.

Initial restructuring

The study says that the gender issue initially took a low priority in the complex negotiations on how to restructure and transform local government, at the time when South Africa’s democratic constitution was drawn. It did not feature in the debates on how the electoral system would affect women’s representation.

“At the time of negotiations on the White Paper on Local Government in 1998, the Cape Town-based Gender Advocacy Project (GAP) raised a number of concerns with regard to women’s representation as well as facilitating their effective participation in local government,” the Gender Links study notes.

“GAP and the CGE made a submission to the then minister responsible for local government Valli Moosa, on how the situation might be rectified.”

The outcome of these negotiations is reflected in the Municipal Structures Act of 1998.

Given women’s poor performance in the ward seats, one significant gain was to adjust the balance of ward/PR seats in local and municipal councils – from the original 60:40 ratio to the equal balance for local and municipal elections.

“The Act fell short of legislating a quota as advocated by GAP and the CGE. However, it required that parties seek to ensure 50% of the candidates on the party’s list are women, and that women and men candidates are evenly distributed (through) the list,” the study argues.

“The weakness of this wording is that it encourages, but does not oblige parties to adopt a zebra system for the PR seats, and places no obligation on them to field women candidates in the ward seats.”

Conclusion

The Gender Links study comes to the conclusion that “although South Africa still scores third in the SADC region (after Lesotho at 58% and Namibia at 41%) with regard to women’s representation in local government, the 2011 local elections proved to be a major disappointment.

Rather than press home earlier gains, the ANC slid backward with regard to women’s representation in ward seats, and failed to champion a legislated quota that would have resulted in all parties fielding equal proportions of women and men candidates.

Although the DA is to be commended for having a higher proportion of women in ward seats than the ANC, the party’s staunch opposition to quotas and anomalies such as an all-male Cabinet in the Western Cape gives rise to cynicism about the example set by female-led parties.

“Urgent action is needed if South Africa is to honour the commitment that it has made by signing the SADC Protocol on Gender and Development, which calls for gender parity at all levels and in all areas of decision-making by 2015,” says the study.

“At this stage, South Africa’s only hope of honouring this commitment is if the local and national elections are merged, and local elections are held again in 2014 rather than 2016.”

Even then, as demonstrated clearly in this report, parity is unlikely to be achieved in the absence of a legislated gender quota.

“This would be in keeping with the Gender Equality Bill that is being championed by the government with a great deal of reference to the private sector. It is time to bring women’s political representation into this conversation as well,” says Gender Links.