In 2016, 2016, 61 of 4 886 ward candidates across the Western Cape contested the municipal elections as independents. This year the number of independents increased on ward level for the upcoming local government elections.
The most recent candidate list for the province shows just more than 80 ward candidates are registered – an increase of more than 30% in the number of wards where independent candidates are campaigning alongside those nominated by parties and civic organisations.
Nationally the number of independent candidates for the local elections from 2011 to 2016 increased by more than 13% from 754 to 855.
Close to 80 local parties and civic organisations are registered in the Western Cape to contest the elections with representative candidates in addition to the parties with which voters are more familiar.
Close to 40% than these organisations declare themselves to be outright civic associations not aligned to or primarily concerned with party-political representation.
In 2016 the number of parties and organisations contesting the local election in the Western Cape were 76.
This year the “non-traditional” parties and organisations as a cohort already are more than the total of 2016 – it’s about the daily needs and particular interests of residents, they would claim.
These increases may be read as a promising signal for what the future of citizen activity may hold. Yet, it is the actual voter turnout that will show if these developments have been able to galvanise broader citizen involvement with the elections as an important feature of a mature democracy, even if only one among several. Still, the steady increase of independent candidacy and civic organisations contesting the municipal elections may be indicative of how society and citizens respond to the politics of the day, especially this year, with what seems to be sharper increases than before.
The relationship between three connected endeavours in the life of a society offer productive perspectives to explore the reasons for the increases – continuing political dramas, the nature of civic organising, and the levels of citizens provocation.
“Political dramas” refer to actual political events and the role political actors play in developing situations, as well as how the state, media and citizens respond to events in public and private discourses.
“Civic organising” refers to how diverse communities come together to design, establish and work with public forums and structures to address concerns, promote interests or protest in their own interest. When citizens organise in this way they create civic organisations – the civics, which may set not only service delivery as their agenda, but a variety of concerns that may be cultural, linguistic, and religious, among others. What makes them similar is an underlying commitment to be a voice for the concerns and rights of a particular group.
“Citizen provocation” refers to the multitude of overt and hidden ways with which citizens are frustrated and taunted, either intentionally or not, into some form of protest, either as individuals or as part of a group.
This form of provocation is most evident in the intimate spaces of the family and community, where people freely share their perceptions of, and angers at, political dramas and even the civics. It relates to the broader combination of public discourse, media reporting and everyday conversations.
Arguably then, it is how the political dramas of society combine with the way citizens organise for their unique interests, and with what provocative images and messages they face every day, which determine the extent of their independent action.
* Buys is the executive dean at the non-profit higher education institution, Cornerstone Institute, and editor of the African Journal of Non-profit Higher Education.
** The views expressed here are not necessarily those of Independent Media.
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