This article by Mike Atkins is published by Democracy in Africa. Here is an excerpt:

In June, 2020 the Constitutional Court in South Africa ruled in favour of the applicants, the New Nation Movement NPC and others, that, “the Electoral Act 73 of 1998 is unconstitutional to the extent that it requires that adult citizens may be elected to the National Assembly and Provincial Legislatures only through their membership of political parties”. Parliament was given 24 months to remedy this defect.

Many have emphasised the importance of the 2024 election. The ANC may be in danger of losing an absolute majority in Parliament, albeit that none of the larger opposition parties shows substantial growth. There is also the prospect that Gauteng at least will be ruled by a coalition government. In a time of upheaval, both within the ANC, and in the broader society, any change to the electoral system could play an important role in shaping the future trajectory of the country. The dynamics of inter- and intra-party power relationships are particularly touched by the prospect of independent candidates, and by the possibility of introducing some form of constituency system.

Elections are the lifeblood of any democracy, and in a new democracy, the electoral system is of particular significance in shaping the success and sustainability of democratic outcomes. It is perhaps a little-known fact that the purely proportional system employed in the 1999 election was not intended to be the final electoral arrangement for the new South Africa. A major review of our electoral system was undertaken by the Electoral Task Team chaired by Frederik van Zyl Slabbert in 2003, which recommended a multi-member constituency system. This was echoed in the High Level Panel on the Assessment of Key Legislation (page 524), chaired by former President Kgalema Motlanthe in 2017.  Despite these reviews, it has taken a court ruling to bring Parliament to the point of amending our electoral system. However, even this process has proved to be and problematic.

Read the full article here.