Accountability is Seeping into the System

As readers of The Common Sense prepare physically or mentally to head off to their summer holiday destinations, I want to take a moment to draw attention to several stories from South Africa over the last 12 to 18 months that merit reflection.

In no particular order:

• The minister of education was fired after an uproar over her filling Sector Education and Training Authority (SETA) posts with ANC-aligned officials and their family members. You can count on one hand the number of ministers this ever happened to in South Africa.
• A proposed two percentage point VAT increase was rejected, forcing the budget to be renegotiated.
• The African National Congress (ANC) in Johannesburg quietly dropped its plan to rename Sandton Drive after Palestinian terror hijacker and ally Leila Khaled.
• A parliamentary inquiry was launched into maladministration at the Road Accident Fund. When the CEO failed to appear, a process was initiated to lay criminal charges against him. This would be a parliamentary first.
• Visa-free entry for Palestinians, including Hamas leaders, was revoked.
• A directive is being finalised to relax black economic empowerment requirements in the telecommunications sector.
• A committee has been tasked with investigating allegations made by a KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Commissioner, in addition to a commission of inquiry set up by the president. The Minister of Police has been suspended pending the outcomes.
• The Parliamentary Committee on Sport, Arts, and Culture aggressively grilled both the minister, the South African Football Association, and other sports bodies over how funding is being allocated and spent.
• A decision to dissolve the Makana Local Municipality for maladministration has been submitted to the National Council of Provinces.
• Transnet announced it will allow private firms to operate trains on its freight rail network.
• A Member of Parliament from the uMkhonto weSizwe Party (MK) resigned after revelations that she had facilitated men to fight in the Russia-Ukraine war.

These are just some examples, some more consequential than others, of news stories that reflect an emerging trend, and I would argue that what we are seeing is the strengthening of accountability in South Africa.

This accountability shift is not being driven by a new law or a commission or a pledge drive. Rather, it is substantially a phenomenon brought on by the ANC’s loss of its parliamentary majority in May 2024.

For the purposes of this discussion, I define accountability as actions taken by political actors in response to pressure arising from the democratic process.

Of course, South Africa has always had some form of accountability. Even under the police state of the National Party era, there was at least some degree of political response. After 1994, a much broader democratic space opened up, allowing far more actors to hold the government and institutions to account.

However, this space was limited in practice by the ANC’s overwhelming parliamentary majority, which largely prevented meaningful interrogation of executive decisions. This left only the media, a small opposition, and the judiciary as the primary checks on continuous government overreach.

Shifted

The 2024 elections shifted this dynamic, opening up genuine space to scrutinise government actions and, with it, altering the political culture of the country in ways we are only now beginning to appreciate.

This is a welcome change but before anyone becomes overly enthusiastic, it is important to clarify what accountability is and what it is not.

Accountability is not the same as reform. Reform is a deliberate programme to change the structure or functioning of government. South Africa needs reform, especially economic reform, and that has not yet occurred.

Accountability is also value neutral. It does not inherently lead to positive outcomes. For example, when the minister of education was fired, she was replaced by a deputy who promptly attempted to re-enact the same kinds of appointments for which his predecessor had been dismissed. The pressure of political patronage simply proved too strong.

Still, for those who seek reform and improved political behaviour, an era of increased accountability is vastly preferable to the environment of near-total impunity that has dominated the last 30 years. There is reason to believe that we are witnessing the start of a longer-term trend in which the ANC continues to lose power in future election cycles, diluting its ability to shape national and local conversations unilaterally.

Radicalise

Some fear that such a loss of power will radicalise the ANC and allow it to work with parties further to the left. That risk does exist. However, recent parliamentary debates have shown that party lines are already becoming more fluid.

In the Road Accident Fund inquiry, ANC MPs sided with the Democratic Alliance (DA) in pursuing criminal charges against the CEO, something opposed by the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) and MK. In the budget debate, both the EFF and the DA rejected the ANC’s proposed VAT increase. Under the right conditions, the ANC could moderate itself in response to election losses and be more open to new approaches.

In 2026, South Africa will hold local government elections, creating further opportunities to push for reform and increased accountability, particularly in the larger metros. This will be an opportunity that all who care about the country’s future should seize.