Executive summary

The Democratic Alliance believes that the open, opportunity society for all can only come into being on the basis of democratic, transparent and accountable governance. The Constitutional settlement reached in 1996 paved the way for a system of governance that, by and large, embodies these values.

However, we believe that there is significant room for improvement. In particular, over the last 15 years, we have seen how the system has worked in practice to empower politicians at the expense of citizens. This has happened chiefly through:

• The powers of the provinces being weakened and more control being exerted from the centre.
• An electoral system that makes no provision for a direct link between public representatives and the electorate.
• The ability of the ruling party to ‘deploy’ or ‘recall’ the President, Premiers and Mayors with no mandate from voters.
• The weakening of those bodies designed to check and balance power – chiefly, the Chapter Nine institutions – through political appointments, control of their budgets by government departments and the absence of a clear reporting line to Parliament.

The DA’s governance policy aims to put power back where it belongs – in the hands of the voters and citizens. Any democracy, by definition, should ensure that the people are given as much opportunity as possible to effect change and decide for themselves how they are governed.

Our governance policy aims to achieve this through:

• Bringing democracy closer to the people by harnessing the federal elements of our Constitution to strengthen provincial government.
• Making public representatives more accountable to voters by introducing a constituency-based element into the electoral system.
• Giving voters a direct say in the election of the President, Premiers and Mayors.
• Strengthening state institutions supporting constitutional democracy to prevent the abuse of state power and to maximise individual freedom.