The Democratic Alliance believes that the open, opportunity society for all can only come into being on the basis of democratic, transparent and accountable governance. The constitutional settlement reached in 1996 paved the way for a system of governance that, by and large, embodies these values.

However, we believe that there is significant room for improvement. In particular, over the last 15 years, we have seen how the system has worked in practice to empower politicians at the expense of citizens. This has happened chiefly through:

• The powers of the provinces being weakened and more control being exerted from the centre through political deployments.
• An electoral system that makes no provision for a direct link between public representatives and the electorate.
• The ability of the ruling party to ‘deploy' or ‘recall' the President, Premiers and Mayors with no mandate from voters.
• The weakening of those bodies designed to check and balance power - chiefly, the Chapter Nine institutions - through political appointments, control of their budgets by government departments and the absence of a clear reporting line to Parliament.

The DA's governance policy aims to put power back where it belongs - in the hands of the voters and citizens. It does this in the following ways.

Firstly, it proposes the direct election of the President, Premiers and Mayors. Currently, voters have little influence over a party's choice of candidate for executive office. The result is that people can be elected to high office based on the manipulation of networks in the ruling party rather than a direct mandate from the electorate.

In an electoral system which provides for the direct election of the President, parties would be more cautious about whom they nominate as their presidential candidate. If the President was elected directly, it would be less likely that a man charged with 783 counts of fraud and corruption would emerge as a presidential contender. The DA also proposes that no person convicted on any charge of corruption, fraud or theft should be permitted to hold public office.

Secondly, we propose a mixed proportional representation (PR)-constituency electoral system to elect MPs and MPLs. This would create a direct link between voters and their constituency MPs to increase accountability without destroying the principle of proportionality.

In our proposed electoral system, 75 percent of MPs (270) will be elected from 90 constituencies, each of which would have 3 MPs. 25 percent of MPs (90) would come from party lists and be allocated in such a way that the overall total number of MPs from each political party would be in direct proportion to that party's share of the votes cast.

The DA would also introduce a formal one percent threshold that a party would need to reach before qualifying for a seat in the National Assembly or a Provincial Legislature. This would strengthen democracy by limiting the emergence of small parties that add little value to public life, cost the taxpayer money, fragment the opposition and encourage individuals to seek personal enrichment through the electoral system. As the DA revealed in its parliamentary audit last year, six parties did not submit a single parliamentary question in 2008.

Thirdly, we propose holding separate elections for all three spheres of government. Currently, because national and provincial elections are held simultaneously, provincial issues receive less attention than they would if there was a separate provincial election. The DA proposes holding separate elections at the different spheres of government so that voters can properly consider the different national, provincial or municipal issues and weigh up the merits of the respective candidates accordingly.

An election at one of these levels will take place every two years, on a specific date that is fixed in legislation. The DA will increase the term limit in each sphere of government to six years - sufficient time for an administration to achieve its goals while leaving voters with regular chances to remove those that fail.

Fourthly, because federalism brings government closer to the people, acts as a defence against tyranny, accommodates diversity and promotes effective service delivery, the DA will harness the federal elements of our Constitution to bolster provincial government.

In particular, in provinces under our control, we will pass provincial legislation to give effect to their legislative competence as set out in Schedules 4 and 5 of the Constitution.

We will also reduce to an absolute minimum the number and scope of obligatory norms and standards, frameworks and policies imposed on provincial and local governments by the national government. We will allow provinces to raise substantially more of their own revenue without increasing the overall tax burden, while guaranteeing them a share of the national revenue.

Fifthly, the DA proposes a set of measures to strengthen and depoliticise the so-called "Chapter 9" institutions designed to support constitutional democracy. Specifically, the DA believes that Ministers should play no role in making appointments to these bodies and that individuals who hold a high-level position in a political party should not be eligible for appointment until one year has elapsed since they held that post. In accordance with the Ad Hoc Committee on the Review of Chapter and Associated Institutions chaired by Professor Asmal, we also recommend that the budgets of Chapter 9 institutions should be part of Parliament's Budget Vote. Finally, the DA proposes the establishment of a multi-party parliamentary committee to protect the interests of the Chapter 9 institutions and address their concerns.

Many of the proposals I have outlined here today would require constitutional amendments and are not the sole prerogative of the party in power, as is the case with other policy areas. This is why the DA believes that they need to be discussed and debated in Parliament at the first available opportunity. I have asked our spokesperson on Constitutional Development, Len Joubert, to approach the Constitutional Review Committee in this regard.

These proposals will go a long way to empowering South Africans and promoting the kind of open, opportunity governance that will enable them to exercise their civic freedoms and take responsibility to use their opportunities.

Statement issued by Democratic Alliance leader, Helen Zille, January 21 2009