Activists demand direct elections of Members of Parliament

| Nokubonga Yawa
My vote counts meeting. Photo by Nokubonga Yawa.

Should citizens be able to choose their MPs? This is the question that was posed by the “My vote counts” campaign yesterday evening at the Central Methodist Church in Greenmarket Square.

This campaign has two demands:

  • The electoral system must be changed so that people can directly elect MPs for their constituency

  • Funding for parties must be reformed and be transparent. Everyone must know where political parties get their money.

The co-ordinating committee for My Vote Counts consists of Axolile Notywala of the Social Justice Coalition and Gregory Solik of Ndifuna Ukwazi. The organisation is co-ordinated by Zukiswa Vuka. It is committed to not taking money from political parties and to declaring its own sources of income, which at this point is a R50,000 grant from local philanthropy organisation, the Raith Foundation.

TOPICS:  Government

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