Election trends vindicate independents’ ‘pilot model’, says OSA

A record low voter turnout in Monday’s local government elections and declining support for the two major political parties proves that South Africans want a new system of governance, says the One South Africa (OSA) movement in a media statement released today.

Likewise it says a pilot model focused on using independent candidates to bring power closer to communities proved itself with 1 500 independents (double the number of previous elections) standing alongside 120 independent movements and community forums, and with this sector poised to win an unprecedented total of approximately 450 000 votes collectively across the country — placing it in 5th position nationally.

OSA says a key to the success of the pilot model was leveraging Section 15A of the Electoral Commission Act, which allows independents to stand as ward candidates and members of independent groupings whereby they can benefit from the proportional representation vote.

The success of the pilot model shows what can be achieved at national and provincial government level in 2004, once the law has changed to allow independents and independent groupings to run at those levels, says OSA.

Both OSA and Raising Righteous Rulers, another movement that champions independent candidates, have looked to the Christian community to recruit ethical and accountable candidates with credibility in their communities to attract voters who have lost confidence in big parties to deliver services.

In today’s media release OSA says it is fast-tracking its efforts to ensure direct elections are in place before the next national elections, as required by the Constitutional Court.

“Earlier this week, our legal team served papers on the Speaker of the National Assembly, Ms Mapisa-Nqakula, giving Parliament 7 days to communicate the process envisaged by Parliament to change our electoral laws in line with the Constitutional Court’s New Nation Movement judgment. Failure to do so will leave us with no choice but to lodge a contempt of court application,” it says.

It says its “Direct Elections Bill” is before Parliament, ready to be passed before the deadline of June 11. The bill will make SA’s electoral system more legitimate and representative, and will professionalise and depoliticise government, says OSA. The Bill also introduces a constituency-based system for Parliament, with electronic voting and an open list system.

OSA also says it will formally launch the Independent Candidate Association (CA), a statutory body to govern and professionalise public service.

Discussing the performance of independents in this week’s elections it says that independents , as a voting bloc, are now larger than political parties COPE, VF+, ACDP, UDM, ATM, PA, GOOD and the NFP – and only trail the ANC, DA, EFF and IFP in real numbers – at approximately 4% of the national vote.

It also highlights the following notable independents’ election results:
• Cederberg Eerste won 8141 votes (27.5%) in the Cederberg Local Municipality in the Western Cape, and is second only to the ANC
• Setsoto Service Delivery Forum has won 11 100 votes (22.88%) in the Setsoto Local Municipality in Free State thus far, and is second only to the ANC
• Lekwa Community Forum won 8925 votes (19.43%) in the Lekwa Local Municipality in Mpumalanga, and is second only to the ANC
• Siyathemba Community Forum has won 5896 votes (39.67%) in the Siyathemba Local Municipality in the Northern Cape thus far, and is second only to the ANC
• Knysna Independent Movement has won 3698 votes (7.9%) in the Knysna Local Municipality in the Western Cape thus, and is will now likely play kingmaker going forward.
• Namakwa Civic Movement has won 6519 votes (20.84%) in the Nama Khoi Local Municipality un the Northern Cape thus far, and is third only to the ANC and the DA

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