Democracy Today.indb - Universidade do Minho
Democracy Today.indb - Universidade do Minho
Democracy Today.indb - Universidade do Minho
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146<br />
DEMOCRACY TODAY<br />
still in use today, it is the ‘black’, ‘coloured’ and ‘indian’ marginalized<br />
or working class group of South Africans. If this economic situation is<br />
coupled with the macro-political situation with regard to representation<br />
discussed above, it is beyond dispute to conclude that most groups in<br />
South Africa remain unfree as a direct result of their lack of meaningful<br />
representation: either they have no agents, trustees, defenders of<br />
their identities/interests or varieties of possible images upon which to<br />
reflect or they have powerless representatives, whose powerlessness is<br />
a consequence of the persistence of <strong>do</strong>mination within extant power<br />
relations or institutional arrangements that <strong>do</strong> not enable effective<br />
representation.<br />
One of the ruling party’s responses to these problems regarding<br />
meaningful representation has been to try and enhance democratic<br />
participation of the citizenry at local government level. But this is not a<br />
response to the problem since it is based on the premise that the problem<br />
regarding national representative politics arises as a consequence<br />
of lack of citizen participation and is thus best resolvable via greater<br />
participation and deliberation at local level. As I have argued above, the<br />
problem is not about the degree or form of citizen political participation<br />
but about the way in which representation is being enacted in South<br />
Africa. Moreover, even if we were to assume for argument’s sake that the<br />
logic behind these initiatives is a good one, it amounts to nothing more<br />
than win<strong>do</strong>w-dressing. This is the case because although citizens are<br />
given some access to deliberation prior to decision-making, it is ward<br />
councillors who ultimately make the decisions behind closed <strong>do</strong>ors<br />
and most have firm party loyalty, not least of all because, in accordance<br />
with the electoral system specified in the constitution, half of the<br />
councillors are instated through proportional representation, whilst<br />
the remaining half are ward constituent representatives. Therefore,<br />
as is the case at national level, councillors are not accountable to their<br />
constituencies but accountable to party leaders. [38]<br />
This condition of little or no meaningful representation is unhealthy<br />
for any state, let alone a new, emerging democracy and nor <strong>do</strong>es it bode<br />
38<br />
Tapscott, ‘The Challenges of Building Participatory Government’, in Thompson (ed),<br />
Participatory Governance: Citizens and the State in South Africa (University of the Western<br />
Cape 2007), p. 87.