Lungani Zungu
The Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) has launched an urgent court application to the ConCourt for the municipal elections to be postponed to February next year.
If the elections, set for 27 October, are postponed, this would be the first time since the democratic breakthrough in 1994.
Chairperson of the IEC, Glen Mashinini, described their court bid as extraordinary and unprecedented.
“The issues which are at the core of the application have a bearing on the political rights of citizens as well as the right to life, bodily and psychological integrity and access to health,” said Mashinini.
The IEC’s court application came a day after the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (CoGTA) Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma on Tuesday proclaimed 27 October as the date of the elections.
In its application, the commission wants the ConCourt to order Dlamini-Zuma to withdraw the notice calling for the upcoming local government elections to be held on 27 October as scheduled.
Mashinini said they had a series of meetings with Dlamini-Zuma.
“The application will undoubtedly offer the constitutional court another opportunity to contribute to the evolving jurisprudence of our constitutional order.”
The current voters’ roll stands at 25.7 million registered voters.
The commission was also seeking an alternative relief which asks the Constitutional Court to declare that the failure to hold the municipal elections by 1 November 2021 is unconstitutional and invalid.
The Constitution states that the local government elections must be held every five years.
Former Deputy Chief Justice Dikgang Moseneke’s inquiry recommended that the elections be postponed to next year citing Covid-19 as the reason.
The municipal elections give citizens the right to vote for the people they see fit to be their ward councillors and mayors, but it seems citizens who are fed-up with their councillors will have to wait a little longer before voting them out.
Image source: @northglennews
