The DA has dragged four political parties to the Electoral Court over their PR candidate lists
Elections 2026
ActionSA national chairperson Michael Beaumont briefs the media in Johannesburg, 3 October 2022. Picture: Nigel Sibanda
ActionSA has defended its decision to submit only one name on the proportional representation (PR) lists that it submitted to the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC).
This comes after the DA declared a legal battle with ActionSA and other parties over what it called a “political strategy”.
In a statement on Wednesday, ActionSA’s national chairperson Michael Beaumont denied that his party has acted illegally.
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View Map“The latest stunt by the DA to challenge the PR lists of ActionSA, along with those of other parties, is a desperate attempt by the DA to disenfranchise voters they simply cannot win in South Africa.
“The provision that the DA challenges in the Municipal Electoral Act makes provision for parties to legally supplement their lists without any limitation on how they elect to do so. It is a practice that has been followed by many political parties over multiple local government elections, including by the DA itself,” said Beaumont.
ActionSA selection processes
He further explained that ActionSA’s candidate selection policies ensure that the PR list is supplemented after the election by ward candidates in descending order of performance.
“This was designed so that it is the South African people who determine the order of our PR list based on the merit of our ward candidates, their vision for service delivery and the effectiveness of their campaigns.
“When compared to the smoke-filled rooms of the DA’s federal executive or ANC NEC, this is by far the most transparent and democratic way of populating a PR list,” Beaumont claimed.
DA accused of hypocrisy
He said the DA’s legal case must be treated with “cynicism”.
“Not only has the DA never sought to amend this legislation in the many years they have served in Parliament, but also, over the last two years, where they have been part of a majority GNU government and held the Ministry of Home Affairs, which is the portfolio from which all electoral legislation emanates, no steps have been taken to amend this legislation.
“Rather, the DA has waited for candidate nominations to close to challenge this long-standing piece of legislation, used in multiple elections, and has insidiously asked the Electoral Court to prevent ActionSA from supplementing its lists after the elections, or only being able to supplement them after the first council meeting to elect mayors and governments.”
DA’s case
In court papers seen by The Citizen, the DA’s federal council chairperson Ashor Sarupen argued that the Local Government: Municipal Structures Act requires parties to submit their lists of candidates ahead of an election.
According to Sarupen, the legislation does make provision for a party to add candidates before the first meeting of a municipal council.
“Their intent is to supplement their lists after the election, without ever revealing their candidates before the election.
“They want to abuse the narrow exception for good faith mistakes in estimating support, and convert it into an election strategy that fundamentally undermines democracy,” he said.
