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ANC to join IEC’s ConCourt bid to postpone local elections
ANC structures will continue with the development of an election manifesto and selection of candidates.
Picture: Erasmus Nche/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images
The ANC will join the Independent Electoral Commission’s (IEC’s) urgent application at the Constitutional Court (ConCourt) to have the October local government elections postponed.
This was revealed by ANC deputy secretary-general Jessie Duarte on Thursday during a virtual media briefing.
ALSO READ: IEC to launch urgent ConCourt application to postpone local elections
The IEC said on Wednesday it wanted the polls to be deferred to February 2022 after the proclamation of 27 October 2021 as the date for the elections by Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma.
This followed the commission’s decision in June to adopt the final report of former deputy chief justice Dikgang Moseneke’s inquiry into the feasibility of holding the elections.
Moseneke found that the elections were unlikely to be free and fair due to the Covid-19 pandemic and restrictions imposed by the government on public gatherings, including political events.
While the ANC waits for the ConCourt judgment on the elections, Duarte said the party’s structures would continue to prepare for elections through the development of the election manifesto and selection of candidates to serve as its councillors.
She said so far 80% of the party’s branches had elected their candidates, but had not concluded their community engagements where the candidates are presented to local communities.
“Our major concern is that the elections must be free and fair, and that political parties must have the ability to properly explain their manifestos to the electorate and present their candidates in a well-organised manner,” Duarte said.
The ANC’s candidate selection process would be conducted by the party’s electoral committee, headed by former deputy president Kgalema Motlanthe.
In a first for the governing party, it would also allow non-ANC members who have the support of their communities to stand as candidates for the party during the local government elections.
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