Okay, time to pull out the dictionary and throw some big, bad words about.
First on the list is “gerrymandering”:
To manipulate the boundaries of (an electoral constituency) so as to favour one party or class. To achieve (a result) by gerrymandering. “An attempt to gerrymander the election result.”
Word Origin and History for gerrymander
In 1812, Gerry, governor of Massachusetts, was lampooned when his party redistricted the state in a blatant bid to preserve an Antifederalist majority. One county district resembled a salamander, and a newspaper editor dubbed it Gerrymander.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
So, now we have learned a little bit about the word, how does it come into play when used to describe Ladysmith and the electoral wards within? Well, unfortunately none of the wards have a salamander-like shape. However, the recent re-demarcation of ward boundaries was clearly designed to negate opposition parties’ impact on actually winning wards.
But the kicker with gerrymandering is that if a party mysteriously drops out of the race, all your best-laid plans can go wrong.
The fall of the NFP (National Freedom Party) could have changed everything, so could the inclusion of Indaka Municipality in the Emnambithi/Ladysmith Municipality (soon to be renamed the Alfred Duma municipality) but looking holistically at the results, nothing really changed.
Was this because of changes made to ward boundaries? They definitely affected the outcome of the ward elections, but to whose detriment? The question also needs to be asked was this a good or bad thing?
So many questions deserve answers right?
That’s the real kicker, we live with a democratic process that is still learning and is clearly unable to answer any of the above. If there was a victim to gerrymandering then it would have to be the DA. But it is a hard ask to say the end result was not fair despite the change of municipal ward boundaries.
So why are we concerned about gerrymandering at all? Well because the real victim of gerrymandering appear long after all the votes have been counted. The victim has a name – Service Delivery.
Let’s have look at just one example of problematic governance influenced by gerrymandering, Ward 26 has as its population centre Van Reenen. Yet part of Hospital Park, some 53 kilometres away fall into it’s boundaries. The ward is so big, governance by a single ward councillor would be almost laughable yet thanks to gerrymandering that is indeed the only option.
With 32 wards falling to the ANC and a further 14 being added to the number by the PR vote few can dispute they are the majority party. One could truly argue that gerrymandering was never needed.
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