In a media briefing held on Friday, 23 July IEC chairperson, Glen Mashinini announced that the local government elections which were supposed to take place in October this year will be moved to a new date in February 2022.
The Electoral Commission has carefully considered and resolved to adopt
the final report of the ‘Inquiry into Ensuring Free and Fair Elections during COVID-19’
by former Deputy Chief Justice Dikgang Moseneke, released on Tuesday 20 July, as a one of the main reasons of the postponement seconded by concerns of the Covid-19 pandemic.
IEC chairperson Glen Mashini said on Friday that the commission met to “review and deliberate” and unanimously agreed on a report to the commission on Tuesday that suggested it was not “reasonably possible or likely that the Local Government Elections scheduled for October 2021 would be free and fair.”
The report suggested that the Electoral Commission approach a court of “competent jurisdiction” to seek a just and equitable order for the deferral of the elections to a date not later than February 2022.
The Commission said that it accepts the rational and the central thesis of the report that greater immunity through mass vaccination is a desirable precondition for a safe, free and fair election to be realized.
Said Mashini: “The commission unanimously accepted the report and will now urgently approach a competent court to have the elections postponed. This will have to be either through the Electoral Court or the Constitutional Court.”
The Commission therefore resolved:
- To urgently brief senior counsel to launch an application in a court of competent jurisdiction to seek judicial authorisation to conduct the election outside of the constitutionally prescribed time periods.
- To immediately postpone the upcoming voter registration weekend scheduled for 31 July and 1 August to a later date. This decision is grounded on the health concerns, the current State of Disaster Level 4 and the epidemiological projections advanced in the Moseneke report. Furthermore, the current persisting high levels of COVID-19 infections and mortality in the country are matters considered for this decision to defer the voter registration weekend.
” A new date for voter registration will also be announced in due course, with all other election activities to continue until the court has made its decision,” he said.
“In the meantime, the Commission reminds all eligible voters that the online registration facility launched recently will continue to provide a safe, convenient and easy way to register as a voter and to update existing registration details.
“Since its launch on 14 July, more than 10 367 voters have already successfully used the system to register or change registration details,” said Mashini.
To register or change registration details https://registertovote.elections.org.za.
Speaking on the possible postponement of the voter registration weekend and the elections, the Active Citizens Coalition’s secretary-general Mohammed Ismail said that apart from the issue of Covid-19 vaccinations, he was concerned of political instability following the recent unrest in KwaZulu-Natal. “We would hope that there is a peaceful transition as we will move toward the election.
“Whether the vaccines help reduce the number of Covid-19 infections and the risk of getting infected, it must be noted that the virus continues to mutate. There is no guarantee that we will reach the elections with very low numbers of infections or the spread of the virus,” said Ismail.
Economic Freedom Fighter’s KZN leader Vusi Khoza said: “Firstly, we were the ones who proposed for the elections to be postponed, however, we feel that February 2022 is still not suitable. We propose the elections are synchronised with the 2024 National government elections. Our reason is that in February who knows how far the vaccination program will have gone. If they are moved to 2024 a majority of the people will have received the vaccine and the elections will be held in a free and less risky environment.”
Khoza questioned if IEC knew whether the country would be in lockdown in February? “In India they held elections during the pandemic and people died. We do not want that to happen in our country,” said Khoza.
He said another reason the EFF proposed for a postponement was because political parties needed more time to campaign.
The Democratic Alliance released a statement on Thursday after the announcement was made by the IEC and confirmed that their position remains unchanged. “We did not support the postponement of an election based entirely on the equivocal provisions of the Constitution which call for regular, free and fair elections.
” We will, however, be studying the submission of the IEC to the Court to specifically look at the mechanism that the Commission seeks to use to postpone the election. It is absolutely important that this process is in line with the spirit and letter of the Constitution and protects the rights of all South Africans to go to the polls and elect a government of their choice. We will also be looking at issues of precedent that could be set by this postponement and on the basis of those specifics, make a decision on the next steps. Now that the IEC has made the decision to approach the courts, we will be keeping a close eye on this process in order to ensure that we protect the cornerstone of our constitutional democracy – frequent, free and fair elections.”
