In an economic journal article in 1983 Nobel laureate Amartya Sen said India had not had a famine since independence, and was unlikely to because reports by “active newspapers” of deaths from hunger would reach the government.
Faced with a threatening famine, wrote Sen, any government wishing to stay in office in India was forced “to abandon or modify its ongoing economic policy” and act swiftly to redistribute food within the country.
Sen was talking about the responsiveness of democracy — the idea that elected politicians implement policies citizens want. And that when public policy has strayed politicians correct its trajectory in response to citizen pressure, or fear thereof.
The behaviour in recent years of ANC governments runs counter to this argument. The party has defied voters, and participation in electoral processes has declined over the years. The number of qualifying South Africans who register to vote has also declined, leaving millions off the voters’ roll. So has the number of registered voters who turn up to vote.
Over time voters who participate in elections have punished the ANC, forcing it off the majority pedestal in the country’s big municipalities — eThekwini, Johannesburg, Ekurhuleni and Tshwane — and the provinces of KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng. Nationally, the ANC’s tally fell to just above 40% in last year’s elections.
Moreover, residents have been hitting the streets, protesting over a lack of public services. The media have done their bit too, exposing corruption and the misuse of public funds. So has the office of the auditor-general.
But none of this is working. If anything the ANC’s middle finger is permanently fixed upwards — as if rigor mortis has set in with the party. For more than a decade the ANC government simply shifted the burden of fiscal consolidation onto the poor, as demonstrated by effective cuts in expenditure on education and health. The impact has been made worse by corruption.
In a 2000 paper, “The political economy of government responsiveness: theory and evidence from India”, economic and political scientist Timothy Besley and economist Robin Burgess looked at what institutions and mechanisms enabled vulnerable citizens to have their preferences represented in policy.
They argued that elections provided an incentive for politicians to perform, and that this could be enhanced by the media. This mechanism, they said, could make government more responsive.
“The approach laid out here does not rely on the vulnerable being in a majority for them to obtain political power. What is key is that they have enough electoral power to swing outcomes, otherwise politicians will not have an incentive to be responsive to their demands.”
Besley and Burgess concluded that the institutions of political competition (such as open elections) were insufficient to make government responsive. They argued that voters must have “the real authority to discipline poorly functioning incumbents”, and for this they must have the necessary information.
Media could “considerably strengthen incentives for incumbents to build reputations for being responsive, as an informed electorate will have much greater power to punish unresponsive candidates than an uninformed electorate”.
However, the SA experience shows the limitations of electoral power and media coverage. Voter signals to the ANC through reduced votes or withdrawal from electoral processes and street protests haven’t registered with the ANC.
Looking at the party’s behaviour now, you wouldn’t say local government elections are looming next year.
• Sikhakhane, a former spokesperson for the finance minister, National Treasury and SA Reserve Bank, is editor of The Conversation Africa. He writes in his personal capacity.
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