One SA to protest against slow pace of electoral reform
One South African will continue its campaign for electoral reform on Saturday with a protest at Constitution Hill in Braamfontein.
It comes a day after the Constitutional Court gave Parliament a further six months to amend the Electoral Act to allow independent candidates to be elected to the national and provincial legislatures.
OSA spokesperson Mudzuli Rakhivhane says it’s unbelievable that MPs havn’t been able to effect the changes.
“That deadline has come to an end, and Parliament has failed in its obligation to pass that specific act. The Constitutional Court has given an extra six months for Parliament to amend the laws accordingly.
“Part of the reason why we are protesting today is that we want Parliament to do two things. One for them is to use the six months efficiently and get the job done.
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“Secondly, it creates significantly high barriers of entry for independent candidates in terms of finance that they have to pay and that the threshold will always have to be double those of the political parties. We want the best bill that will introduce a constituency-based system.
“That means that South Africa will be broken up into constituencies which will be smaller regions and then people will be able to directly vote for a MP to represent them in Parliament, which obviously has the effect of posturing better individual accountability.”
The protest is expected to begin at 10:30.
