Elections show local democracy 'not maturing'

[DreamKing]

Elections show local democracy 'not maturing'
2011-05-31 22:31

Pretoria - People's voting behaviour is evidence that local democracy is not maturing as the same underperforming political parties are constantly voted back into power, a local government expert said on Tuesday.

The country had seen a sharp increase in the number of protests, most of which were accompanied by violence, but people had still remained loyal to their parties, said Professor Jaap de Visser, of the University of Western Cape's community law centre.

"The voting behaviour is not based on the same consideration as protest behaviour.

"We see underperformance and frustration in many municipalities, but that does not translate to a change in voting behavior," he said at a conference on municipal services and tax, hosted by lobby group AfriForum at the Centurion council chambers.

De Visser acknowledged the high spirits during the local government elections on May 18 but noted concern at a "very dire" situation on the ground.

According to research he presented, violent protests increased in frequency from 41.6% in 2007 to 54% in 2010.

Most of the protests were about housing, water, sanitation, electricity and poor service delivery, and most were in Gauteng.

De Visser said statements issued by government showed that it was aware of the problem and was taking it seriously.

"Improvements in municipal governance are necessary," he said.
- SAPA

http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/Politics/Elections-show-local-democracy-not-maturing-20110531

bloody agent ...

 

[phoneJunky]

Well, I think we are maturing slowly. The ANC only kept there numbers because of KZN and the failure of the IFP. You can't change the mind of everyone in the country in one go.

I think the DA went about the elections the right way this year to focus on what they have done and not what is wrong with the ANC and they won many votes that way. They gained in every province except KZN if I recall correctly.

And this was said at a afriforum event, and even though they do a lot of good things, they are biased to one side.

 

[rorz0r]

That's a very fancy way of saying ANC supporters are idiots.




Just had to translate that in case any ANC supporters are on here...

 

[LazyLion]

I think the elections are reason for great concern as it shows that the country is aligning more and more along racial lines.
This is largely because of threatening racial talk from the ruling party and it's goons.