Co-operative governance and traditional affairs minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma on Tuesday announced October 27 as the date for the local government elections while awaiting the outcome of the Electoral Commission of SA’s (IEC’s) application to postpone the polls.
The IEC accepted the recommendations of a panel headed by retired deputy chief justice Dikgang Moseneke to postpone the local government elections and is this week expected to file an urgent application to the Constitutional Court for approval.
The immediate implication of the minister’s pronouncement is the closing of the voters’ roll by midnight on Tuesday, the IEC said. This means no new eligible voters may register to vote online until the top court gives approval for the postponement of the election.
Dlamini-Zuma sought legal opinion on the proclamation of the municipal polls after the release of the Moseneke report in July which recommended that the elections should be postponed to February 2022 when the health risks associated with Covid-19 would have likely subsided due to widespread vaccinations.
“Legal counsel was very clear that there is no order postponing the elections. We don’t have the powers to postpone the elections and neither does the IEC. The legal team was clear that we should continue so that we are not found to have acted ultra vires [going beyond legal authority] against the court,” she said on Tuesday during a briefing.
According to the IEC’s timelines for this year’s elections, Dlamini-Zuma is required to pronounce the date of the polls by August 6.
The Moseneke inquiry recommended that the IEC approach the courts to postpone the polls because the constitution only permits municipal councils to sit for a five-year term. Elections must be held within 90 days of the expiry of the municipal term.
“The minister will be free to participate in the proceedings as a respondent in any manner she wishes. The minister may abide by the decision of the court or actively support the relief that the IEC will seek. The minister may even abide by the decision but file an explanatory affidavit and make written and oral submissions to assist the court to come to a just outcome,” she said.
The ANC, which told the Moseneke inquiry that elections should proceed under the current Covid-19 conditions, said on Tuesday that it would file a submission supporting the IEC’s application to the Constitutional Court.
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