Ron Weissenberg: Stop gaslighting the voter – nobody in SA gets the government they vote for

“You get the government you deserve.” We’ve all heard it. Ron Weissenberg wants it retired. Joseph de Maistre, a reactionary who loathed democracy, coined the line in 1811. Not the best pedigree. In 1948, the National Party took power with under 37% of the vote. In 2024, just 23,3% of registered voters backed the ANC. Knysna’s voters got a coalition carousel. So who chose this? Weissenberg blames a constitutional system that shields politicians from voters. His fix: constituency MPs, electoral thresholds, run-offs and Swiss-style devolution. You don’t get the government you vote for. You get the one the system enables..By Ron Weissenberg.During election-time, or whenever the lights go out, taps run dry, or another municipality collapses under the weight of its own incompetence, someone dusts off the political cliché: “You get the government you vote for,” or its condescending twin, “You get the government you deserve.”Paul Smith, who does sterling work as Head of Local Governance at Kagiso Trust, repeated the phrases during a recent BizNews interview. Speaking about the #StartWhereYouAre Playbook, he also noted the need to sever the incestuous relationship between administration and politics, and to break the link between those who must deliver and those who vote for them. More on that further in this article. But Smith is just one in a line of influential South Africans, from politicians, commentators and analysts across the spectrum who carelessly use these clichés. Noble intentions aside, voters are not the audience for these phrases; nor are they the perpetrators of toxic government. These literal and figurative clichés are unjust, historically ignorant and even patronising. The original phrase “Every nation gets the government it deserves” (Toute nation a le gouvernement qu'elle mérite), was coined in 1811 by the French philosopher Joseph de Maistre. De Maistre was no champion of democracy; he was an arch-reactionary who despised the French Revolution and believed in the divine right of kings. The slogan was cynical, implying that because the masses had dared to overthrow the monarchy, they deserved the bloody tyranny of the Reign of Terror that followed. It was a victim-blaming jab from an elitist who hated the idea of ordinary people choosing their leaders.In the South African context, applying this 19th-century smirk is especially absurd. Since 1910, South Africa has had five different constitutions and several distinct electoral processes, each manipulating the relationship between the citizen and the state.As an example of voters not getting what they vote for, look no further than the pivotal election of 1948. General Jan Smuts and his United Party secured nearly 50% of the popular vote. Yet, because of a skewed constituency system that heavily weighted rural districts, D.F. Malan’s Herenigde Nasionale Party (later to become the National Party) took power with just under 37% of the vote. The result? Of the approximately 5,65 million adults over age 21(*1946 SA population census), only 7,1 percent, (402 000) voted for the institutionalisation of Apartheid. Most of the voting white population rallied against the National Party, whilst the vast majority of South Africans were completely disenfranchised and could not vote at all. A small minority got the government they voted for, and arguably, nobody got the government they "deserved."Fast forward to our modern Constitutional dispensation and current minority government and the clichés are just as wrong. They are convenient shields that deflect responsibility for bad policy, toxic governance, and poor service delivery away from the political elites and onto the shoulders of citizens. Politicians have some 1825 days between elections to deliver on their mandates. There are politicians committed to authentic servant-leadership, but for the rest, most days are spent ego-massaging, looting, mismanaging, and wrecking the state. The citizen gets a single day every five years to hold them accountable. Blaming all voters for the subsequent betrayal of a minority mandate is straightforward political gaslighting.And as for the outcome of recent elections: almost no one is getting the government they voted for.In the 2024 national elections, no political party secured a majority. Millions of voters cast ballots for opposition platforms, only to find themselves governed by a sprawling Government of ‘National Unity’ that bundled ideological foes into the same cabinet.Or consider a typical example from the 2021 Local Government Elections. In Knysna. No party obtained a majority on the 21-seat council. The DA won 8 seats, the ANC won 7, and various smaller parties took the remaining 6. The result was an endless carousel of unstable coalitions, floor-crossing, and backroom dealing that has left the town paralyzed. The voters of Knysna did not vote for a coalition of chaos; they voted for a party to be in control of decision-making and delivery. They received neither.The reality over the last three decades, is that only those who cast an ANC ballot received some of the policy positions they voted for, and it was precisely those policies (cadre deployment, BEE, state capture, excessive centralisation) that created and entrenched the current mayhem. Of the 28 million registered voters in 2024, only 23,3% voted for the ruling party. But all South Africans who voted for accountability and delivery, or who stayed away in despair, deserved far better government than what they received.The fact that the South African political system continuously produces poor outcomes and toxic coalitions detached from the direct will of the people, points to structural failure. And the Constitution and statutes have allowed this disconnect to fester. As the 19th-century political philosopher Lysander Spooner famously argued regarding the American system: "But whether the Constitution really be one thing, or another, this much is certain; that it has either authorised such a government as we have had or has been powerless to prevent it." A system that is effectively powerless to halt the collapse of local municipalities, state institutions and the wholesale evasion of political accountability is the product of a flawed Constitution in need of urgent amendment..Read more:.South Africa’s electoral law amendments could delay the vote.South Africans desperately need systemic electoral reform; a shift away from the faceless proportional representation system that shields politicians from public accountability. Direct parliamentary and municipal representation, where voters can replace their MP or councilor rather than hoping for changes to party lists. In addition, minimum electoral thresholds to stop extortionist micro-parties from holding entire municipalities hostage should be prioritised. And consider run-off elections to ensure that hung municipalities or provinces have the backing of 50% plus one of the electorate. Critically, decentralising power from the bloated national and provincial hubs to a system of regions similar to the highly devolved Swiss Canton system, would bring decision-making, tax-collection, and service delivery to local level where citizens can actually see, touch, and regulate their government.Sadly, those South Africans who vote within the current constitutional system get, at best, what they have been gaslighted to believe. At the very least, politicians and commentators should refrain from patronising clichés and rather reflect reality and lived experiences: You don't get the government you vote for; you get the government the existing constitutional system enables. And surely no one deserves the one they have..Sign up for your early morning brew of the BizNews Insider to keep you up to speed with the content that matters. The newsletter will land in your inbox every morning on weekdays. Register here. Support South Africa’s bastion of independent journalism, offering balanced insights on investments, business, and the political economy, by joining BizNews Premium. Register here.If you prefer WhatsApp for updates, sign up to the BizNews channel here.

Ron Weissenberg: Stop gaslighting the voter – nobody in SA gets the government they vote for

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