Our political parties appear not to have embraced institutional accountability as a cardinal principle of governance. Even more worrying are the signs of a lack of internal democracy and leadership, and dictatorial tendencies in some parties.

Theo Barclay, a London-based barrister, wrote that "the first rule of politics is, never resign" based on the understanding that, as UK parliamentary blogger Dr Emma Peplow put it, "resigning your post in government has long been the unhappy minister's weapon of last resort".

In South African multiparty politics, it seems that this rule has been turned into an art form by our politicians, who refuse to resign even when there is overwhelming evidence against them.

The worst part is that our political parties have not moved speedily to ensure public accountability by their members. In our proportional representation (PR) system, the electorate cannot vote for candidates directly. We must trust that the party we choose to represent us will take governance seriously.

According to the Open Government Partnership, public accountability occurs when "rules, regulations, and mechanisms in place call upon government actors to justify their actions, act upon criticisms or requirements made of them, and accept responsibility for failure to perform with respect to laws or commitments".

There are two imperatives for the institutionalisation of public accountability. The first is the ethical integrity...