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Electoral politics in tension with substantial democracy<br />

Local government is not inherently more democratic or accountable than the other spheres, but its<br />

proximity to citizens creates expectations of answerability and responsiveness. Yet the electoral<br />

system for local government contributes to political centralisation, as 50% of seats are ward based,<br />

and the remainder allocated according to proportional representation from a party list. This “has<br />

centralised enormous power in the hands of party leaders”, with mayors and councillors owing their<br />

position to party bosses not the voters (Cameron, 2014: 588). Nevertheless, this trend may shift as<br />

local elections become more strongly contested.<br />

Ward councillors often lack the motivation (and/or capacity) to challenge the council on behalf of local<br />

communities, while the executive is busy dealing with macro challenges. This means that policy<br />

priorities are not adequately negotiated and transformation agendas lose out to local and city-wide<br />

patronage. This tendency to follow the dominant party line undermines the logic and diversity of<br />

decentralised local governance.<br />

Table 6.1: We can influence local government decisions<br />

Black (African) Coloured Indian/Asian White Total<br />

Agree 52.30% 47.60% 45.10% 38.30% 49.90%<br />

Disagree 17.20% 20.90% 23.50% 22.10% 18.30%<br />

* Respondents were asked “Do citizens like me have the power to influence decisions made by local government?’’<br />

Source: IJR, Confronting exclusion, 22 November 2013, p. 21, IRR South Africa Survey, 2014.<br />

As Table 6.1 shows, only 50% of local citizens think they can influence decision-making. Box ticking<br />

on one side and distrust on the other side erode the space for practical deliberation on options.<br />

Citizen activism is limited to voting turnout, or protest, rather than consistent engagement in<br />

democratic spaces (Drimie and Pieterse, 2013).<br />

Well-governed <strong>cities</strong> have regular elections according to a formal electoral process in which political<br />

parties and citizens participate. Indicators of democratic electoral political processes include voter<br />

registration, turnout and access to formal spaces to be heard. Figure 6.5 suggests national and local<br />

participation levels are moving in opposite directions, with the former declining and the latter rising.<br />

6<br />

WELL-GOVERNED CITIES 213

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