The Constitutional Court has dismissed the Independent Electoral Commission’s application for a postponement of the fifth 2021 Local Government Elections to early next February.
After adopting justice Dikgang Moseneke’s report which recommended that elections will only be free and fair if they are held no later than February 2022, the IEC launched a bid in the apex court to have the polls postponed.
The inquiry by Moseneke found that there was a possibility that elections in October might not be free and fair.
It suggested they be postponed to February 2022.
But the Democratic Alliance (DA) objected to the move, saying regular, free and fair elections were part of the foundational clauses of the Constitution and as such would require a super-majority of 75% in Parliament to be amended.
The apex court also orders the IEC to attempt to hold a voters’ registration weekend.
“The commission must within three calendar days after the date of the order to determine whether it is practically possible to hold a voter registration weekend with a view to registering new voters and changing registered voters’ particulars on the national voters’ roll in time for local government elections,” said the judgment.
Elections will now be take place between October 27 and November 01 2021.
Each party was ordered to bear its own costs.
Globally, most countries have chosen to proceed with elections in a COVID-19 compliant way.
The electoral commission did not have its usual voter registration weekends because the level of lockdown regulations in place from 28 June to 25 July and still in place since 26 July did not permit it.
Political analysts say while registration weekends are not required by law, it can be argued that their absence prevented more people from registering, affecting whether the elections could be free and fair.
Earlier on Friday, former IEC deputy chairperson, Terry Tselane, suggested that the court judgment allowed the commission to reopen registration of party candidates for local government elections.
He has since apologised for his misinterpretation of the judgment.
Last week, the ANC withdrew its application to the electoral court, in which it requested an extension to the deadline to submit its candidates list for the local government elections.
The missing of the IEC deadline has affected the party in 93 municipalities.
However, DA’s federal council chairperson, Helen Zille, said Tselane’s interpretation and analysis was at odds with her party’s understanding of the Concourt judgment.
“Terry Tselane, formerly of the IEC and now from the Electoral Commission of SA, was on @Radio702, saying that the ConCourt ruling will enable the ANC to register its candidates. This is NOT how we read the judgment. It will enable voter registration, not candidate registration,” said Zille on Twitter on Friday night.
“Well, if Terry Tselane is right in his interpretation of the judgment (which we dispute) that the Concourt ruling enables the ANC to re-register its candidates, then my hypothesis still stands. We believe that the ruling enables voter registration but NOT candidate registration.”
The EFF said all political parties were afforded the same amount of time to submit their candidates by the 23rd of August 2021 under the same deadline. Any attempt to reopen that process would confirm that the IEC operates on the whims of the ruling party, the ANC, and lacks independence and partiality, said the EFF on Friday night.
“To reopen the candidate submission process would be unfair on political parties who have their houses in order and have met the necessary deadline, notwithstanding that there is precedence in refusing to allow political parties that have missed the deadline from submitting,” said the EFF in a statement.
“The EFF calls on all of its structures and ground forces to activate the elections machinery towards total victory. We must begin an aggressive campaign of engaging our people in every street and work tirelessly to remove incompetence and corruption in local government.”
In 2016 the ANC was hammered in local government elections, losing key metros such as Johannesburg, Tshwane and the Nelson Mandela Bay to rival opposition parties such as the DA and the EFF.
This time the polls will test support for the ANC following the coronavirus pandemic and South Africa’s worst civil unrest in years in July, triggered by the jailing of former President Jacob Zuma after he failed to appear before an anti-corruption inquiry.
ANC spokesman Pule Mabe told broadcaster SABC that the party welcomed the judgement and would study it properly before commenting further.
The Electoral Commission said in a statement it would meet over the weekend to chart a way forward, and would make an announcement about the electoral programme on Monday.
In August, the Electoral Commission applied to have the elections postponed after an inquiry recommended a delay because of the pandemic.
In its ruling, the court set aside the government’s decision to have elections on Oct. 27, saying instead the polls must go ahead between that date and Nov.
“The Electoral Commission notes the order handed down by the Constitutional Court in which it dismissed an application by the Commission to defer the upcoming general Local Government Elections scheduled for 27 October 2021,” the commission said in a media statement.
“The implications of the Constitutional Court judgment means that the Commission is now required to ensure that it prepares for an election to be held by 1 November 2021. The Commission will meet over the weekend to chart a way forward. In line with the orders of the Constitutional Court, the Commission will make announcements relating to the electoral programme on Monday.”
A meeting with the National Party Liaison Committee will also be convened on an urgent basis, said the commission.
- Inside Politics
