JOBURG ADVOCACY GROUP

(JAG)
Working for best practice governance in the City of Johannesburg

Media Release

Joburg Advocacy Group Launches Direct Democracy Campaign

Campaign aims to promote a move to direct democracy in the City of Johannesburg

Johannesburg
22 March 2011
For immediate release

The Joburg Advocacy Group (JAG), an independent civil society group working for best practice
governance in the City of Johannesburg, yesterday launched a campaign for direct democracy, which
will run until the local government elections on 18 May.

The campaign aims to promote a move to direct democracy in the city by providing information for
voters and by offering a platform for debate about the current local government system, as well as
about viable alternatives.

“What few voters realise is that our present model isn’t the only form of democracy,” says JAG
founding member, Lee Cahill, “and that there are other ways of organising public life; ways which
ensure that political power remains with the electorate and isn’t effectively transferred to political
parties.”

At present, she says, voters have no direct control over who is nominated for election and, once
councillors are elected, no direct control over their performance.

“Essentially, very few people are in control of deciding who it is that should stand for election and, if
voted into office, who will represent the people.”

To illustrate the point, she cites the fact that the ruling ANC has a membership of just over 820,000
members1, a number which represents only 2.8% of the voting population 2. It is this membership that,
at branch level, nominates and approves candidates for election - without the obligation of having to

1
Reported by the ANC on 12 August 2010
2
Statistics South Africa: Mid-Year Population Estimates, July 2010

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canvass public participation in the process. Final candidate lists then have to be approved by various
party committees and finally by the party’s National Working Committee (NWC), which comprises only
31 members.

While the structures and processes may be different in the case of the various opposition parties, the
same principles apply.

Further, both ward councillors and proportional representation (PR) councillors are directly
responsible to the party’s caucus leader in local government and not to the electorate. This means
that voters cannot hold their councillors directly to account during their term in office or demand that
they address certain issues in Council, especially as motions may be vetoed by either the party’s
caucus leader or by the Speaker, who is also a party appointee.

“Similar concerns apply in the case of candidates for Mayor,” says Cahill. “The city is basically a
business and the residents are its shareholders, as they provide the lion’s share of its revenue
through the payment of taxes. And yet the city’s shareholders have no say in who is nominated by the
various parties for the position of Mayor, the person who will ultimately be the city’s CEO. This is a
situation that would simply never be seen in the business sector.”

The aim of JAG’s campaign, then, is to make voters aware of the fact that they are in a position to
demand a new, more direct form of democracy in the City of Johannesburg. As part of this initiative,
the group will be publishing downloadable information leaflets on direct democracy throughout the
pre-election period. It will also be holding daily democracy debates on Facebook and Twitter, and will
be actively participating in media debates.

“Representational democracy can take us only so far,” says Cahill, “and we believe it is time to start
working towards a more direct and accountable form of democracy, starting at local level.”

For further information on the Joburg Advocacy Group, Google the group’s web site, visit its Facebook
page or follow it on Twitter (@JoburgAdvocacy).

End.

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