READER LETTER | SA needs electoral reform to elect MPs directly

Twenty years ago, Dr Frederik van Zyl Slabbert made a proposal that SA needs electoral reform in which members of parliament (MPs) and provincial councillors are under the control of voters and not party headquarters.

His proposals were thrown into a bin because politicians didn't want to lose power. But the truth is only we, the citizens of SA, and not politicians, can rescue and renew this country. A reform of the Electoral Act is needed so that the majority of MPs are directly elected and can be removed by the citizens of SA.

Because of the current electoral system, black people are still cut off from the power to choose their own representatives. This electoral apartheid must come to an end. Party bosses must not be allowed to continue to appoint their stooges as MPs.

It's a very destructive political racket. Take for example, Malusi Gigaba, the former minister of public enterprises, who administered the decline and destruction of Eskom, Transnet and Prasa under his watch. He's also listed in the Zondo commission report, yet he features in the top 20 list of the newly elected ANC NEC.

According to the current Electoral Act, he is going to become an ANC member of parliament. This is not what the Struggle against apartheid was for; there is no democracy here. The election of Gigaba, Gwede Mantashe and Nomvula Mokonyane reveals that the ANC cannot cleanse itself.

Bushy Green. Kagiso, Mogale City