Does parliamentary democracy automatically represent the will of the people?

by Tebello Mohale

 

South African constitution’s preamble starts with the words; “we, the people of South Africa…” (Constitution of the republic of South Africa, 1996: 1). This preamble was adopted in 1996 under the newly democratic South Africa, which came into democracy in 1994, after decades of an oppressive minority rule. The statement, “we the people” implies that the constitution is the will of the people and was hence written by the ordinary South African. In fact, the very definition of democracy is ‘power of the people, for the people and by the people’. Democracy in South Africa, as in most democratic countries, is a representative democracy, as the preamble best puts it, the constitution is adopted through the “freely elected representatives” (Constitution of the republic of South Africa, 1996: 1). The aim of this essay is to deliberate whether representative democracy is indeed the will of the people.