Having watched the initial stage of the American (Democratic convention) election i felt like,' why can't South Africa follow the same system'? In honestly i believe that the way presidents are elected in the US is very democratic and it give the electorate the opportunity to know thier candidate. South African electoral system is more or less a copy of the British system whereby the party chooses the next leader. This system is very unfair as it does not allow people to make thier nomination of to whom they want to become the next president. I really believe that if South Africa was using the same system as the one in the US many people would feel more enpowered and would be more involved into politics. The study done in the UK couple of years ago has shown that many people are disillutioned with politics because they feel that parties are not involving them into who becomes the leader. A lot of these peole are blaming the electoral system as a cause of their luck of interest in politics. Surely as citizens we have the right to choose who we want as a president, maybe is time we talk about changing the way our leaders are elected. Because of this flaut electoral system South Africans have ended with a president who is follwed by lot of controversies and poor leadership. Already there are discussions about leadership change, i must say the last three years have not been good for SA. We have seen so much corruption as people in power have been stealing from the poor leading to the recent strikes in the mines as well as lot of lawlessness. We have done it the ANC's way and it has not worked, is about time we the citizens decide how we want our country to be run.
I am afraid that if electorates are not being involved in how the country is run, there will be more lawlessness which might also lead to the country becoming ungovernable. Most of the problems that are happening in our country are the manifestation of the general dissatisfaction by the people. People are tired of being poor while people associated with the ANC are getting rich, as if they are being elected to come and make money.
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