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The community of Hamanskraal in the City of Tshwane, has welcomed the Electoral Amendment Bill with an expectation that their service delivery challenges will be better addressed by directly elected independent candidates.

Commenting on the Bill during public hearings today, local residents told the Portfolio Committee on Home Affairs that they have been failed by political parties who imposed leaders on them who did not address the needs of the community.

The Bill seeks to introduce amendments to the Electoral Act 73 of 1998 after the Constitutional Court ruled that it was unconstitutional for not allowing independent candidates to contest elections to the National Assembly and provincial legislatures. The court gave Parliament 24 months to remedy the defect.

Members of the public who attended the public hearings also proposed that the Bill must not include the proposed requirement of a deposit fee to be paid by independent candidates in order for them to contest elections. They argued that this requirement will disadvantage poor citizens who would like to contest for either the national or provincial legislatures.

The committee also heard from those who argued that all 400 seats in the National Assembly should be contested through a constituency based electoral system instead of the Ministerial Advisory Committee’s proposal to allow independent candidates to only contest 200 seats.

Some residents suggested that the committee should do more research, including benchmarking with other African countries that have introduced constituency based electoral systems, countries such as Botswana, Lesotho and Uganda.

However, there were also residents who opposed the Bill on grounds that, they argued, the current proportional representation based on political party list was the most suitable one for a country like South Africa.

Issued by The Chairperson of The Portfolio Committee on Home Affairs, Mosa Chabane