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Parties should be held accountable for campaign promises: Analyst

Steven Friedman
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Political Analyst, Steven Friedman, says although some welcome the mushrooming of new political parties on the eve of elections as a sign of a maturing democracy, parties should be held accountable for their campaign promises. With the 2019 national elections just months away, new political parties have thrown their hats in the ring. These include former SABC COO Hlaudi Motsoeneng’s the African Content Movement, the Good party, led by former Cape Town Mayor Patricia De Lille; and the Socialist Workers Party – formed by metal workers union, NUMSA.

Friedman says political parties are not a medium for people to obtain free publicity.

“It’s obviously not true to say that the more parties you have, it’s better for democracy. The whole point of parties is that they are not there to give some individual an opportunity to get free publicity for a couple of months. Parties are important if they represent real constituencies, if they represent a significant number of voting South Africans. We do need methods to make sure parties want to run in elections, if they don’t have support, there is a price. You cannot stop people from forming a party, but you can try to make sure through the deposit system that people only form parties when those parties actually represent real voters.”

 

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