Pretoria News

Election date proclaimed, IEC to seek delay at Concourt

ZINTLE MAHLATI

WITH THE proclamation of the election date for October 27, the legal tussle to convince the Constitutional Court of the need to postpone the elections awaits the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC).

The IEC said the proclamation of the election date by Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma had implications for its work.

The organisation is expected to outline its Constitutional Court application, which seeks to postpone the elections, today.

The ANC welcomed the proclamation, saying it would file a supporting application for the IEC's Concourt application. The party said it supported a postponement of the elections of no more than six months.

The DA said the proclamation was a move designed to assist the IEC in seeking a postponement.

The party insists elections should go ahead on October 27, and has called on citizens to reject a possible postponement. Dlamini Zuma said yesterday that by law, she had no choice but to proclaim the date of the elections.

The continued rise in Coronavirus cases and the third wave had necessitated the need to assess whether the elections could go ahead, and whether they would be free and fair.

Retired deputy chief justice Dikgang Moseneke’s report, released on July 20, recommended a postponement of elections to February 2022.

The report also recommended that the IEC approach the Constitutional Court court to seek a postponement.

The IEC had accepted the report and adopted it, saying it would approach the Constitutional Court to seek a postponement.

The organisation also postponed the registration weekend, which was scheduled for July 31 and August 1.

Dlamini Zuma said that after seeking legal opinion, it was clear that she had no legal powers not to go ahead and proclaim the election day yesterday.

“The minister is not empowered to postpone the elections to a date beyond 90 days after the expiry of the term of the municipal councils, as prescribed by section 159(2) of the Constitution,” she said.

As a result of the proclamation, the voters roll was sealed at midnight.

Dlamini Zuma said the IEC was legally bound to approach the Concourt seeking a postponement, and that her office must be cited as a respondent.

She said that at the moment, there was no postponement of the elections until a court order stated so.

Legally, only the Constitutional Court could provide for such relief. Dlamini Zuma said it would have been difficult for the IEC to seek a postponement of an election that had yet to be proclaimed.

She said that if the court granted the IEC relief for the postponement, Cogta would abide by the outcome.

On the future of municipal councils whose terms expire, Dlamini Zuma said that legally, those councils would continue to function if the court granted a postponement.

If the Constitutional Court does not grant the IEC its application postponing the elections, then the elections would have to go ahead on October 27.

There is no legislative framework that permits the government or the IEC to postpone elections without the Constitutional Court giving the go-ahead.

Dlamini Zuma said the drafters of the Constitution had not foreseen a situation in which a global pandemic would force an election postponement and, as such, nowhere did the Constitution provide such relief.

METRO

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2021-08-04T07:00:00.0000000Z

2021-08-04T07:00:00.0000000Z

https://pretorianews.pressreader.com/article/281629603317550

African News Agency