No electoral system nor any single provision can provide the assurance that an independent candidate will, as an elected representative, serve voters well.
When such a person is also a member of a political party, to which he or she is also accountable, the chances that he or she will serve the community well are much better seeing as parties have rules and prescriptions that must be adhered to.
And if the person fails to do so, he or she will lose their membership and be replaced by someone who is more competent.
It is important to take note of this seeing as there are many misconceptions about electoral systems and accountability.
For South Africa, promoting its constitutional democracy is paramount and, therefore, no person who has the right to vote may feel excluded from the process of voting for the candidate of his or her choice.
The country's electoral system is one of the key instruments promoting this.
And so, it is also important that there must be ample opportunity to thoroughly debate and consider any changes to the country's electoral system.
Parliament has, however, failed to perform its duty in this regard as it did not implement the court order that aimed to afford all role players enough time to weigh in on the proposed amendments to the Electoral Act.
The FF Plus will, therefore, not support the amendments to the Act until a proper consultation process takes place.
The Electoral Task Team, which was established in 2002 by former President Thabo Mbeki to consider the constitutional requirements of the electoral system, issued two reports: a minority report and a majority report.
Despite the differences, both reports did concur that an electoral system as such does not ensure elected representatives' accountability.
No such system can prescribe how representatives ought to be accountable to voters.
So, it is mistaken to argue that amending an electoral system will bring about greater accountability.
Accountability flows forth from the discipline enforced in and by political parties, and the character of the elected representative.
It is mistaken to assume that independent candidates will be truly accountable of their own accord.
When an independent candidate no longer fulfils his or her duties after a year or two in office, voters are powerless to do anything about it seeing as the opportunity to elect someone else only comes by every five years at election time.
In contrast, a political party can suspend such a representative's membership and appoint a more suitable candidate in his or her place.
That obviously ensures greater accountability as the person is not only accountable to the voters, but also to his or her party.
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