ANGRY at what it sees as an unfair allocation of seats in some local councils, the African National Congress says it wants the new Municipal Structures Act amended because it “dilutes majority rule” and ?entrenches arbitrariness?.
KwaZulu-Natal ANC representative S’bu Ndebele told reporters in Durban the party was particularly concerned over the formula used to calculate the seat allocation for parties on local councils. He said in a number of cases the percentage of seats in a local council obtained by the party did not correspond with the actual wards it had won.
In the Durban metro the ANC won 61% of the wards, but after calculations were done with the complicated formula provided for in the legislation, the party only received 47% of the seats on the council.
“By some strange calculations we end up with 47%. How can you win 61% wards and then end up with only 47% of seats? The Act detracts from the voice of the majority and it dilutes majority rule,” Ndebele said.
Ndebele indicated the party would use all channels available to it to amend the law.
Those who drew up the legislation sold it as “the most democratic in the world”, Ndebele said.
“The legislation is not taking us any further and only entrenches arbitrariness. We are not looking for the most democratic system, we are looking for the most appropriate.”
He blamed the calculations used for problems at the Port Shepstone and Umzinto local councils, where parties deadlocked electing a mayor.
Ndebele said the ANC won 16 out of the 29 wards at Port Shepstone, which gave the party more than 50% of the vote in the area. However, when the seats were allocated, the party was only given 28. The Inkatha Freedom Party was given 16, the Democratic Alliance 13 and the African Christian Democratic Party 1. The elections for the Port Shepstone mayor have deadlocked four times on 29 each for the ANC and the IFP candidates.
After the fourth election, the IFP subjected their members to a lie detector test to ferret out the person who had voted for the ANC. The test indicated seven candidates might have lied. At Umzinto, elections for a mayor deadlocked five times. Ndebele said the ANC won five out of the nine wards, but were only allocated six of the 18 seats in the council.
Provincial and Local Government Minister Sydney Mufamadi has given the parties until Thursday to resolve the deadlock in both councils before he implements a deadlock-breaking mechanism.