The proliferation of political parties is a development that is not given sufficient attention. What does it mean and what is its potential impact on the country’s quest to actualise a democratic society?
There are currently about 150 registered political parties. Thirty-seven of these are going to contest the election at provincial and/or national level.
Although it would be prescriptive to say that there are too many parties in this country, there is some sense of discomfort with the mushrooming of these organisations.
After all, this is a democratic country, and anybody has the right to set up a political party and contest elections.
The parties’ emergence may be regarded as positive because they offer more choices for the electorate. But sadly, a closer look tells us that something quite different is happening.
Instead of offering voters real choice, these parties actually serve a negative function.
Most of them are really just a joke and need not be taken seriously. They are clearly based on opportunistic policies; are one-person shows, led mostly by unknown personalities and downright mavericks; espouse narrow views; and so on.
They include those that are singularly preoccupied with bringing back the death penalty, tax reduction, fundamentalist religious views, hoary imaginations like abolishing trade unions, and such inane policies.
What is more serious is that these parties are not offering anything new to South African voters. They are just advocating policies that are already covered by existing parties.
If the situation was not so serious it would really be laughable.
But this situation is very grave given that the opposition since 1994 has been noted for its weakness, and a viable opposition is needed in a democratic country.
A further indication that these parties are not adding value to South African politics is the fact that a bulk of them cannot even raise funds to register for the election.
Out of the 150 registered parties only 37 are going to contest the election. Thus, we have more than 100 so-called political parties that are not even going to stand for elections.
And if a ”party” is incapable of standing for elections, what is the use of its existence?
Significantly, of the 37 who have satisfied the conditions to contest the election only 11 are to contest both the national and provincial elections, with the rest either contesting the national and selected provinces or selected provinces only.
There is nothing wrong with parties just concentrating on provincial politics.
However, it is quite clear that serious issues are actually decided at national level and the fact that most parties are concentrating on provincial politics is revealing about their strength.
Their influence at this level is minimal because it is only nationally where parties have a chance really to deal with the serious problems that are facing the country.
Maybe what South Africans should consider is to change their electoral system so that these organisations disappear from the radar screen and not confuse voters further.
One way to go is to revisit the proportional representation system that accords minor parties the right to exist, when in reality they have no effective power.
There are many benefits in the proportional representation system — the most important being that it gives an opportunity to the small voices to be heard.
But realistically, what is the use of having many small voices all over the place that are not adding any value to the politics of the country?
Consider that actually a political party needs very little support to make it to national Parliament. It just requires a paltry 27 000 votes to gain a seat to the National Assembly, for example.
Thus, we find that that in the 1999 election, more than half of the parties represented in Parliament had less than 1% support, which is a deplorable situation.
This is significant when we consider that there are more than 20-million registered voters. In the previous election, the African National Congress won almost two-thirds of the votes with 13 parties fighting for the remaining 30%.
What is to be done about this depressing situation?
Opposition parties — because they are the ones that actually need voters as the ANC is relatively cushioned — should take the initiative in this regard.
They should go out there to convince other parties that it is only by standing together that they have any chance of making their voices heard.
Surely parties that are pushing conservative macro-economic policies and issues such as bringing back the death penalty and abolishing abortion should just join the Democratic Alliance, African Christian Democratic Party or New National Party.
Those that are concerned with policies that closely represent the issues being advocated by the ANC should seriously consider just folding and joining that party.
Dr Thabisi Hoeane is a lecturer in the Department of Political and International Studies at Rhodes University Grahamstown. He contributes regularly to national print media. His PhD was on South African Electoral Studies and Democratisation.