Dylan Bettencourt
On Wednesday, the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, announced 1 November as the date for local elections.
This comes after the Constitutional Court rejected the Independent Electoral Commission’s (IEC) application to postpone the polls until February 2022 due to Covid-19 infections.
The Constitutional Court ordered the commission to hold the municipal elections between 27 October and 1 November.
Dlamini-Zuma said the date will be pronounced on 20 September following the voter’s registration weekend.
The 27 October was the initial date set out by Dlamini-Zuma, but the court’s ruling forced the IEC to amend their timetable.
Discussions have already begun to declare 1 November a public holiday to allow more individuals to vote.
The postponement of the local government elections comes after the ANC were unable to meet the deadline in registering many of their candidates and the registration date was moved out.
ANC party deputy, Jessie Duarte rubbished claims that the ruling party influenced this decision.
“Did we get special treatment? No!” she said.
“You could have called it special treatment if we had gone out with a megaphone and lobbied for the outcome of what the IEC eventually did but we didn’t lobby at all,” Duarte said.
Several other political parties have been up in arms following the decision, stating that they felt the ANC influenced the IEC’s decision to postpone the election as a way to ensure their candidates are able to register for the elections.
Image source: @TimesLIVE
