Ian Jayes: The letter by Kin Bentley of Port Elizabeth cannot be allowed to stand without comment.

The old "winner takes all" Westminster constituency system was disastrous for this country. It resulted in the National Party gaining a majority of seats nowhere near proportional to the votes cast. The delimitation and "loading" of seats meant the NP won at least two elections while receiving fewer votes overall than the opposition did.

Bentley must also be under no illusions about the "race" factor in a multi-ethnic society. The then exclusively white electorate, with few exceptions, voted tribally. The N P unashamedly played the "Afrikaner" race card. One would be extremely naive to think the ANC would not do the same under a similar system.

With all its faults, "proportionality" is the only fair and practical option in our society.

This does not mean it cannot be combined with a constituency element, where candidates receiving the majority vote in particular constituencies directly represent those constituencies in parliament, while all the votes cast are counted for the "proportional" party lists. Parliament would comprise constituency and party list members.

How the delimitation of constituencies would be determined without unfair loading to suit vested interests is a problem to be overcome.

I think we have the best and fairest "bad" system for a multi-ethnic and not yet non-racial society.