While the South African Constitution (1996) protects the right of any eligible citizen of the country to form a political party and contest the country’s elections, we are continuing to see more and more political parties and independent candidates flooding the Independent Electoral Commissions (IEC) roll of election candidates. Certainly, our democracy permits the existence of these parties; however, some of these parties are born in the election’s eve while some die immediately after the elections. Some of the newly formed parties and independent candidates appear to have genuine community concerns that are not properly addressed by the ruling party in the respective municipalities and they come out with area specific promises to voters. The lucky ones manage to get their fare share of the votes during the elections, while others just become a laughing stock and fade away after failing to make it into the “municipal chambers”.

Some analysts argue that these increases reflect the growing concerns resulting from failures of the ruling party in these democratic states, while others argue in contrast, that this is seen as a job making opportunity for those involved. Irrespective of the increasing number of contestants in local government elections, South Africans continue to witness disparities in many municipalities’ service delivery agendas. The question to ask therefore is whether the increase of these political parties and independent candidates at local government level result in any changes in the local government performance? This article seeks to unpack the weight given by smaller parties and independent candidates at the local government level and the influence they have towards the improved performance of municipalities.

The Process of Enrolling With the IEC

Getting into the IEC list of elections for candidates tends to be an easy process in South Africa. The legislative framework, IEC processes and procedures to register a political party or to become an independent candidate at local level makes this process all possible. It is also much cheaper to register candidates for local government elections compared to provincial and national elections. At national and provincial levels, only a registered political party can contest the elections whereas an independent can only contest elections at the local government level. However a registered political party has a chance to contest both Proportional Representation (PR) and ward level seats while an independent candidate is unable to contest elections at a PR level and election in more than one ward.

The local government sphere in South Africa has the highest number of election contestants registered with IEC, for both independents, big and small political parties. Since the first democratic local government elections in 2000, every local government election that followed has had an increased number of registered contestants. The 2011 elections recorded the highest number of political parties contesting the elections with an increased from 97 in 2006 to 121 in 2011, the number of independent candidates also increased by almost 13%, from 667 in 2006 to 748 in 2011 (http://www.thenewage.co.za/blogdetail.aspx?mid=186&blog_ id=%20620). Some smaller parties and independent candidates managed to secure seats in the local councils while others “bit the dust”.

Accountabillity of Elected Representatives to the Party As Opposed to the People

It is the obligation of ward councillors to be the agents of their respective communities who voted them to power. However ward councillors now tend to work for and be accountable to the political parties that nominated them. For this (and other) reasons many local governments around the country are failing to deliver proper services to communities. There is a widespread perception amongst communities that ward councillors (working on behalf of political parties) as well as independent candidates join political echelons to attend to their own interests rather than representing the will of the community. After they get an official inauguration as ward councillors they are blamed by community members for their fading visibility and neglect of the communities’ bread and butter issues. Some are even linked to some greedy and corrupt activities like getting involved in government tender processes and procedures.

In the politics of today, being a ward councillor is viewed by many to be more of a stepping stone on a longer term political career path than being a genuine community activism or representation.

The ward councillor’s position is fully guaranteed and secured, and this is particularly so for an independent ward councillor because there currently exists no clear process of how they are to be held accountable and if necessary removed from office in between elections. Political party candidates run the risk of losing their positions if their political party expels them from the party and subsequently from office. Expelling a ward councillor is however a daunting exercise for political parties as many political parties fear to face by-elections as a result of expelling a councillor. The risk of going to by-elections is that if a ward councillor is expelled because of internal political party squabbles other than communities’ frustrations, the expelled ward councillor has an opportunity of coming back and contesting the election as an independent candidate or immediately joining the rival party and therefore, stand a chance of winning the by-elections against their former party.

Minority Representatives' participation in Council Deliberations

In a democracy there is a need for smaller parties and independent candidates to defuse the absolute powers exercised by ruling parties in local councils. The role of smaller parties and independents should never be opposition for the sake of opposition but rather they should creatively protect and preserve the democratic freedoms by participating in council debates and making sure that people’s values are respected and their demands are delivered. They must also hold the government to account and stay in touch with their constituency and show the relevance of politics to local needs.

In order to take the reigns of power of a particular municipality and have the decision making powers, proportionally, the election winner outnumbers the opposition parties and independents. The proportional representation system ensures that opposition parties hardly match the ruling party in terms of seats in the council; it is worse for the independent candidates as they find themselves contesting one ward in the whole municipality with the ruling party scooping the rest. Some opposition parties together with independent candidates try to form coalitions by combining seats in order to have some decision making powers within Council.

Municipal Councils run a system of caucuses where political positions and decisions are made before a resolution is taken in council. This system is disadvantageous for independent candidates as they have to align themselves with a caucus within a coalition so that they can voice their views, debate them out and influence a collective position. Without proper participation in this way, minority parties and independents run the risk of seeing decisions taken while they struggle to generate effective debate at a council chamber. To change the position and the decision of a collective, minority parties would have to divide the ruling party. Examples such as the King Sabata Dalindyebo Municipality one where a portion of ANC councillors voted for an opposition candidate for the position of mayor as opposed to the ANC candidate is a case in point. The councillors were subjected to a lie detector test to see who went against the wishes of the ruling party and subject them to disciplinary processes (Saturday Dispatch: 02nd July 2011)

It is even harder for smaller parties and independents to stretch themselves to participate in different portfolio committees. This is worse for an independent candidate who has only one seat in council and stands a chance of missing some serious issues affecting their ward. In some municipal councils, smaller parties and independent candidates are allocated talking time which is calculated proportionally; they end up racing against talking time and are therefore ineffective in council debates.

To worsen their fate, serious community issues raised by smaller parties and independents in council debates are often politicised and brushed aside by the dominant party in Council. In turn, communities conclude that their representative - a councillor, is not raising their demands well enough in Council.

Ward councillors from smaller parties and independent candidates also find it hard to access or have a say in municipal administration. Although the administrative functions of government need to be separated from the political function, in reality the two are still extremely linked in local government; in many municipalities around the country the administrative posts are dominated by staff members loyal to the ruling party hence the need to reform and amend the Municipal Structures Act. Community project implementation is skewed towards the priorities of the ruling party. Smaller parties and independent candidates do not even have an influence on the budget and allocation of funding for projects in their wards. In some instances the ruling party deliberately influences administrative processes so that the municipality ends up delaying implementation in a ward run by an opposition candidate as a strategy to incite the community to revolt against an opposition party or an independent that is running the ward. I happened that the implementation of a community project in the ANC ward within the only municipality (Midvaal municipality) run by the provincial opposition (DA) in the Gauteng province was delayed in the administration side of the municipality. It was believed that the delay was done by the ruling party in the municipality with the purpose of frustrating ANC councillor and supporters in the ward. The provincial government had to be called in to interfere and push the project forward (see Mathoho Malachia et al, 2010:24)

In terms of allocating Members of Mayoral

Committee (MMCs) in a municipality, the rule applied by the majority party is still the same as in the provincial and national spheres, where it is the majority party that decides who has to steer a specific portfolio. Smaller parties and independent candidates are disadvantaged unless the majority party decides to include an opposition in the portfolio’ leadership. Lastly, smaller parties and independents lose touch with their respective constituencies due to lack of resources. Community work requires a lot of resources which most of smaller parties and independents don’t have. The only available resource for these ward councillors tends to be the council salaries which in essence maintain their daily life styles. Due to these challenges, councillors are labelled as “check collectors” by communities in their respective wards and end up losing respect and credibility. Their roles and responsibilities in the municipal council get eroded, and they keep on ‘stumbling’ from one election to the next.

Conclusion

Political rights and freedoms given to the citizens of the country result in the electoral system being ‘flooded’ by smaller political parties and independent candidates standing for election in each and every election. This is good for democracy as citizens are able to cast their net wider for political choice. However some of these parties and candidates come with questionable credibility resulting in short life spans. Some don’t make it to the IEC score board while the lucky ones manage to have at least one seat in the municipal council. Those who successfully make their way to the council chambers help keep democracy alive. While we need these parties in our democracy we can hardly see their added value to municipal performances. It is important for communities to learn more about the powers and authority that independent and small parties have in terms of influencing municipal decisions, so that these candidates can use their presence in municipal councils more effectively in strengthening our democracy.

References: Constitution of the Republic of South Africa (Act No. 108 of 1996) | Business Day. Record number of candidates for local government poll, 13 April 2011 | Daily Maverick. Analysis: The nascent rise of the Independent candidates, 10 May 2011 | Daily Dispatch. Lie detectors for ANC rebels, 02 July 2011 | Financial Mail. Independent candidates, 12 May 2011 | Local government: Municipal Electoral Act (Act. 27 of 2000, July 2000) |  Mathoho M, Engel H, and Stone S . A case Study of Participation in the Bantu Bonke Hydroponics Project, 2010, Planact, Johannesburg | News24. Elections Fact and figures - http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/Local-Elections-2011/Elections-facts-and-figures-20110516 | The New Age. Shift Ideas: Independents are too small a force, 28 June 2011