Britain’s democracy is not perfect, but it offers many lessons for a country such as South Africa.
On Monday the Labour Party finally ousted Prime Minister Keir Starmer, the man who returned it to power after 14 years on the opposition benches. His resignation came after months of pressure on him to leave 10 Downing Street.
Starmer becomes the latest British prime minister to fail to serve out a full term during a decade that saw the UK’s global stature shrink after it unwisely opted to leave the EU.
His predecessors were David Cameron, Liz Truss, Boris Johnson, Rishi Sunak and Theresa May. Cameron, who opposed Brexit, nevertheless called a referendum to decide whether Britain should leave the EU. When he lost the bet, it was he who had to leave. The others lost their jobs after failing to deliver an acceptable Brexit agreement.
Most of this churn was orchestrated by parliamentary parties, especially the Conservatives. But such intraparty machinations deny voters the opportunity to choose their leaders.
The process of replacing Starmer will start early next month, which should allow for a smooth transition. However, in South Africa the dominant ANC has no regard for parliamentary processes or smooth transitions. Luthuli House, the party’s headquarters, runs the show.
Both former president Thabo Mbeki and his successor, Jacob Zuma, were summarily sacked by the party in a de facto coup process known as a “recall”. A more elegant, and democratic, way would have been for the party to ask its deployees to call an early election, which would have given power back to the voters.
For example, Mbeki’s dismissal came just eight months before the 2009 elections, and Zuma’s “resignation” in 2018 came a year before scheduled general elections. The rush was about settling internal party-political scores and had little to do with good governance.
Judging by this history, the odds are that the incumbent president, Cyril Ramaphosa, is likely to be removed before the 2029 elections. Nowhere is this illustrated more clearly than in Johannesburg, where the ANC has shown no regard for ratepayers and residents. At its whim it has simply deployed unknown political figures from minority parties that it can control. The party caucus in the council, which is in a far better position to assess a mayor’s performance, has no say.
In his resignation statement Starmer, who entered politics late in life, said he had heard his parliamentary party’s voice: that is, that he is not the man to lead Labour into the next general election. In South Africa, only the DA comes close to achieving such a choreographed succession.
Judging by this history, the odds are that the incumbent president, Cyril Ramaphosa, is likely to be removed before the 2029 elections. Nowhere is this illustrated more clearly than in Johannesburg, where the ANC has shown no regard for ratepayers and residents.
It remains unclear how Labour plans to replace Stammer. There are three options: it could open nominations and run a competitive elective conference; it could rally behind one leader, say Andy Burnham; or it could call a fresh election.
Assuming there is more than one contender who raises their hand, the first path would allow party members and voters to get a sense of how they might do better than Starmer in delivering on the manifesto that won Labour a landslide election victory.
The second route, also known as a coronation, would accelerate succession but not enhance democracy. The last route is expensive and could be risky for Labour’s continued stay in power.
The first route carries valuable lessons for South African parties. Increasingly, local parties are diluting internal democracy. For example, in three provinces – KwaZulu-Natal, Gauteng and Eastern Cape – ANC government deployees are taking orders from unelected “task teams”.
The IFP has postponed its elective conference to after the local government elections due in November. This too weakens party democracy. Zuma’s MK party, a breakaway from the ANC, has made clear it doesn’t believe in elective conferences.
Politics is about ideas. Ideas matter to voters. They need to know how politicians’ visions will change their material conditions. In theory, at least, that is what elections are supposed to be: platforms for the market of ideas. This also applies to internal party contests.
Coronations tend to have unintended outcomes. A recent case in point was Kamala Harris losing to Donald Trump in the 2024 US elections. Harris, who was vice-president to Joe Biden, was parachuted in as the Democratic candidate without any contest a few months before the presidential elections. Her party base never got to interrogate her ideas and what she stood for.
Intraparty democracy is as important as national, provincial and local government elections. Its death is the beginning of the end of democracy, which is concerning in the South African context. Local parties need to take a leaf from the best bits of British democracy.
• Dludlu is a former Sowetan editor.
Business Day
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