Marius Roodt on electoral reform in South Africa

Is South Africa's electoral system fit for purpose? In this episode of the Solutions With David Ansara podcast, I speak with Marius Roodt of the Institute of Race Relations (IRR) about how to make our democracy more representative.

Marius and I discuss the merits and demerits of South Africa's existing proportional representation system, as well as alternatives, such as the United Kingdom's 'first-past-the-post' system.

We also explore the consequences of the Constitutional Court judgement of 2020, which ruled that South Africa's electoral system should be amended to allow independent candidates to be represented in Parliament.

Marius argues that the Electoral Amendment Bill, currently before Parliament, is unnecessarily complex and could violate the constitutional principle of proportionality. Other systems, such as a mixed-member proportional representation system, would be better, he says. 

We also explore the benefits of federalism, and ways to enhance democratic participation at the local level. 

TIMESTAMPS:

(00:00) Intro

(00:39) Marius Roodt on SA's proportional representation system

(05:19) Marius Roodt on 'First-past-the-post' systems

(10:20) Marius Roodt on the Constitutional Court judgement

(13:12) Marius Roodt on the problems with the Electoral Amendment Bill

(22:59) Marius Roodt on the Van Zyl Slabbert Commission recommendations 

(26:13) Marius Roodt on alternative proposals

(29:52) Marius Roodt on federalism in SA

(35:42) Marius Roodt on strengthening democracy in SA

(39:19) Conclusion

RESOURCES

Institute of Race Relations Submission to the Portfolio Committee on Home Affairs regarding the Electoral Amendment Bill (B1-2022): https://irr.org.za/reports/submissions-on-proposed-legislation/submission-to-the-portfolio-committee-on-home-affairs-regarding-the-electoral-amendment-bill-b1-2022

Support the work of the IRR: https://irr.org.za/join