IEC to ask to postpone elections

THE IEC is aiming to file papers asking for the postponement of the October local government election in the Constitutional Court by Friday next week.

“We are in the process of finalising the application. A team of senior counsels has been appointed,” chief electoral commissioner Sy Mamabolo said yesterday.

“They are currently busy drafting the application and we plan to lodge that application before August 6. It may be launched even earlier,” he said.

Mamabolo made the statement when the IEC briefed the Home Affairs portfolio on the report of Justice Dikgang Moseneke, who was commissioned to ascertain if the elections would be held under free and fair conditions during the Covid-19 pandemic.

This was after the commission could not find agreement among political parties.

In his report, Justice Moseneke said it was not reasonably possible that the local government elections scheduled for October this year would be held in a free and fair manner.

Justice Moseneke cited alert level 4, which imposed restrictions on movement, gatherings and activities of political parties and independent candidates. He also said that were the elections to continue, some of the electoral processes could not be reasonably possible, including the face-to-face registration of voters and finalisation of the nomination process for registered parties and independent candidates.

Justice Moseneke said the elections were likely to be free and fair if they were to be held not later than the end of February next year and urged the

IEC to urgently approach the court if it accepted his report.

The IEC has since accepted the Moseneke report and its recommendations.

IEC chairperson Glen Mashinini said the inquiry’s recommendations have far-reaching consequences for the elections.

“The commission is dealing with an unprecedented, extraordinary situation that carries uncharted constitutional implications,” Mashinini said.

“As we speak, we are still in the process of consultation with our counsel and at the same time we are in consultation with the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs,” he said.

Deputy chief electoral officer

Masego Sheburi said having accepted the report, there were a number of implications from the report.

Sheburi said the scheduled voter registration for this weekend has already been postponed.

“The reason for postponement is not because the commission is going to the court, it is that we accept that the country is in the third wave.”

He said the IEC has also considered the inquiry’s other recommendations to adjust the implementation of the electoral processes.

Sheburi said that while October was predicted to be a low-transmission period, elections were not only about the voting day.

“There are other activities that happen before the voting day that precede whether elections are free or fair,” he said.

He added that February would be much safer as more people would have been vaccinated.

Both the ANC and EFF welcomed the decision to ask the court to postpone the elections, but the DA was adamant in opposing the postponement, saying it was ready for the contest.

The MPS asked about the election and court application timeline as well as scheduling another voter registration weekend and other preparations.

Mamabolo said they would have to be alive to the court application and issue election time-table.

“We can’t proceed as if the order will be given … We will discuss the draft with the party liaison committee next week and once we resolve we will communicate.”

He said the next voter registration weekend would be determined in the context of the yet-to-be-discussed election time-table.

Mamabolo told the MPS that the IEC has received 40 000 election voter management devices to be used during elections and voter registration, and training of staff has been conducted.

He said they have already secured personal protective equipment for the registration weekend.