EDITORIAL: Kudos to party leaders and supporters

After months of a relatively peaceful campaign season, millions of South Africans will go to vote in SA’s seventh general election on Wednesday.

This newspaper has elected not to endorse any party or independent candidate. And the reason for this is simple: we respect our readers and South Africans. We believe they are discerning enough to make up their minds without our guidance.

That said, we take the opportunity to applaud leaders and supporters of various political parties — new and old — and independent candidates for a mostly decent election campaign.

The run-up to Wednesday’s voting has not been without challenges. Probably, the seventh election will go down in history as one that elicited the most litigation. Which is not necessarily a bad thing.

Two years ago, the Constitutional Court ruled in a landmark judgment that independent candidates could stand in elections. In essence, this loosened the octopus-like grip that parties have had. This practice, which weakens accountability, is still there.

South Africans vote for parties, not individuals. The party candidates then elect a president. This makes the parties, not voters, the only authority to remove a president, as happened with Thabo Mbeki and Jacob Zuma.

The many challenges have included the squabbles between the ANC and uMkhonto weSizwe (MK party), Jacob Zuma’s breakaway faction. Attempts by the ANC to have the MK party deregistered failed. On Wednesday, Zuma’s face will be on the ballot paper despite him being disqualified by the apex court to stand as an MP.

Last week, three parties lost their court bid to be inserted into the ballot paper after failing to meet criteria and deadlines set by the Electoral Commission of SA (IEC).

To their credit, the trio, the ANC and Zuma’s MK have all accepted the court rulings. This has to be welcomed, and we hope that this maturity persists during the election and post-election period.

Wednesday’s election is different from previous ones in other respects. Unlike others before it, this election has not been as cash flush thanks to the changes in party funding legislation.

Unfortunately, these progressive reforms in party funding law, which brought transparency, were reversed last week when the National Assembly decided to give the president the power to set limits on amounts that should be disclosed.

The speed with which the courts, including the Constitutional Court, have resolved the disputes deserves to be commended. As a result, South Africans head to Wednesday’s election without unresolved disputes.

Also to be commended are the IEC’s preparation and readiness. The agency, which has run the past six elections without challenge, has given confidence that it will, once more, deliver an election that reflects the voters’ will. As well as the courts, SA is blessed to have the IEC even though it has suffered deep budget cuts due to austerity measures by government.

The definition of a successful election includes the following factors:

• A level playing field, including peaceful campaigning and absence of no-go zones before the election.
• Glitch-free voting on the day of the election.
• A credible counting of the votes to ensure that the outcome is accepted by all contestants.

Key to all these factors are at least two ingredients: adherence to agreed rules of the game; and the role of the IEC, party agents and independent election observers.

Law enforcement agencies have to be commended for having ensured a peaceful pre-election season, especially in the identified hot spots. Still, their job has just started.

Much still has to be done between now and Wednesday. 

Unlike others before this one, this election is fiercely contested.

Party leaders have to manage their supporters’ expectations over the outcome of Wednesday’s vote. But, ultimately, it will be up to intelligence, police and the army to control possible unruly behaviour.

This weekend marked another milestone: the formal end of the election campaign. All three major parties — the ANC, DA and the EFF — held their final rallies.

The core issues are crystal clear. The economy, which has been stuck in a low-growth rut for years, needs serious and urgent attention. And to do this, the government needs to fix the electricity and freight logistics crises.

The millions of unemployed young people are a ticking time bomb.

Now that the election is upon us, we urge all registered voters to show up and cast their votes on Wednesday.