There is a growing call in SA for new politics. Many people have undoubtedly lost faith in party politics and democratic institutions. Big man and big party politics is facing a crisis of legitimacy as fewer people turn out to vote and many people reject party memberships. The time has come to ask whether a politics that centres on the party brand and popular personalities is what will animate and increase political participation.

At the beginning of July, the Defend our Democracy Campaign, an activist initiative aimed at defending constitutional order in SA hosted a conference of more than 100 civil society organisations to discuss democratic renewal. The declaration produced by this conference makes a clear call for a new politics...