Carol Paton | SA needs to change its path, and electoral reform is essential

The deal struck in 1994 to build a new SA has run its course and new ideas are needed. But short of an uprising or debt crisis, a new consensus must be built through the ballot box. This makes electoral reform imperative, writes Carol Paton. 

Political change is imperative. The country is on a trajectory of increasing dysfunction, hardship, violence and lawlessness.

Throughout history, SA's political and economic arrangements have not worked for the majority of its people. The 1994 democratic breakthrough brought hope that this would change. It has not. Nobody – across all classes and groups – believes that tomorrow will be better than today. That is what intellectuals mean when they say: "The 1994 consensus has run its course."