The Congress of the People (Cope) is calling for the direct election of South Africa's president, to give credence to the mantra that the people shall govern.

On Tuesday, Cope leader Mosiuoa Lekota addressed a press briefing in Johannesburg, where he made it clear that citizens should govern and should be seen to govern.

"We want to amplify once again our call for a constitutional amendment for voters to directly elect the president of our country, instead of using the procedures under the current party list system that promotes party interests above the interests of the people of our land.

"This change should also apply to premiers and mayors. We adopted this position in 2008 and consistently repeated it in all our election manifestos," he said.

Lekota's comments come months ahead of South Africa's seventh democratic elections, which is set to be held between May and August this year.

The Constitution does not allow for the direct election of the head of state.

According to Lekota, retaining the present electoral system will give South Africans more abysmal failures as presidents.

"The national debt has soared, and the debt servicing costs, according to the National Treasury of South Africa, will, as a percentage of the main budget revenue, increase from 18% in 2022/23 to 19.8% in 2025/26 - and is expected to average R366.8-billion a year over the medium-term.

"In other words, R1 out of every R5 collected in taxes must be paid as interest on the debt. With only 80% of revenue left and the massive size of government draining much of what remains, service delivery and infrastructure development will be negatively impacted," he said.

Furthermore, Lekota said public services and several state-owned enterprises had collapsed.

"Over many years, the Auditor-General's reports have been shelved, allowing failure and corruption to continue without consequences. The president has failed to hold ministers accountable for their lack of performance and has lacked the moral courage to disclose their performance outcomes. This violates the values of openness, accountability and responsiveness," he said.

Lekota said the trust deficit between political leaders and ordinary South Africans had reached stratospheric levels.

"According to the 2023 South African Reconciliation Barometer, 79% of South Africans believe that leaders cannot be trusted to do what is right.

"Fikile Mbalula has just admitted how those at the helm of the leadership of our country misled Parliament. SoNA will be just another charade. South Africa would have been better off if a vote of no confidence debate kickstarted the new parliamentary year," he said.

In a lengthy post on X, Mbalula explained his comments.

"Other than members of the opposition and sworn enemies of the ANC, anyone who understood or interpreted the SG's remarks yesterday in Mpumalanga as an admission that the ANC assisted, abetted, aided or attempted to assist, abet or aid the former president in defrauding the government must have his/her head checked. The remarks must also be understood as political rally rhetoric and polemics," he said.

But Lekota was unfazed by the African National Congress's explanation.

He said if a new government was elected in the current electoral system, the paralysis in government would worsen.

"The economy will be damaged even more. Joblessness will increase. Any state-owned entity that has not yet been brought to its knees will be pulled down. Ministers will remain as consumed by political infighting as ever, and incompetence mingled with corruption will continue longer," he said.