By Siyabonga Motha
South Africans will soon be going to the polls. The citizenry will get an opportunity to choose the party they feel has their best interests at heart. This will culminate in the sixth parliament since the dawn of democracy in 1994. Almost 27 million people are registered to vote in the upcoming elections in May. Every voter has rights. Ever wondered what those rights are? Local Voices presents short explanations of those rights, which radio stations can use as Public Service Announcements if they want. If you do broadcast them, please credit us and let us know!
The country will have a new president and ministers, perhaps even the face and numbers of seats occupied by political parties will change. Over the past five years we have seen a lot of change and challenges in the national assembly.
Who remembers The EFF and its “pay back the money” campaign against former president Jacob Zuma. How about the signal jamming saga at the State of the nation address and many other times where political parties walked out of the house in protest. We must also take note that president Jacob Zuma had to step down before his term ended last year.
We know that, all 48 political parties who will contest this year’s election are vying for the maximum seats in the national assembly. This feature by our journalist Siyabonga Motha from the Wits Radio Academy will attempt to answer these and other questions relating to this process…
Siyabonga explains how the president of The Republic is elected:
Here he wants to know about coalition governments come to be?
Who has the power to change the constitution?
And finally Siyabonga asks about how seats allocation is determined?