Electoral reform offers hope

Ask most executives about what they would like to see more of in South Africa and they will say accountability is in the top 3, along with growth. Without political accountability actions will continue to be seen to be serving the party ahead of the constituents these leaders are elected to serve. Ours will be a culture of a ruling class and not a serving or governing class. But two new reports suggest ways forward as NGO’s have been hard at work devising fresh ways to fix SA’s electoral system – one commissioned by the Inclusive Society Institute and another by the Helen Suzman Foundation. Michael Avery hosted two members of the Inclusive Society Institute, Roelf Meyer, Chief Government negotiator during the democratic transition in South Africa, former Minister of Constitutional Development, and currently a director of the In Transformation Initiative, & William Gumede, Professor at the University of the Witwatersrand School of Governance and Chairperson of Democracy Works Foundation; and Dr Charles Simpkins, economist and senior researcher at the Helen Suzman Foundation.