‘You had ample time,’ IEC tells ANC

While the ANC has gotten itself into an electoral trap by possibly losing out on the wards they failed to register on time, the Electoral Commission of SA (IEC) said parties had ample time to submit their candidate list with numerous reminders and an open-door policy to raise any possible technical issues.

The ruling party has made an about-turn on their Electoral Court bid to order the commission to reopen for submission of candidates, despite their claims that they were obstructed by technical issues by the IEC.

Opposition party the United Democratic Movement backed the ANC, stating that the capturing of candidates was a “disastrous process”, while pleading for more time.

But the IEC maintained more than enough time was given to political parties, and each party had a front-row seat to the chief electoral officer Sy Mamabolo, should issues arise, said IEC spokesperson Kate Bapela.

“If there are any problems, they know his door is always open and we have always dealt with that over the years.

“We believe, as the Electoral Commission, we did everything within our limited powers… For a week ahead of the closing date [Monday, 23 August], we have been saying candidate nominations will be closing. The Friday before that, I made sure there was another reminder and on the Monday morning, we said we will be closing at 9.30pm,” Bapela said.

While the ANC blames technical glitches for their delayed list, another reason could be due to low morale by their staff, said political analyst Levy Ndou.

“There are employees who have not been paid for some time and are expected to work. Obviously, they might not be able to do their work in a courageous manner because an unhappy employee cannot deliver as expected.”

The likelihood of the local elections being postponed was high due to pressure from the ANC and Economic Freedom Fighters, as well as indications that the IEC was not ready for citizens to cast their votes.

“Former deputy chief justice Dikgang Moseneke said these elections should be postponed. There are still citizens who are not registered as voters.

“All of these factors would necessitate a postponement.

“But one should not condone the irresponsible manner in which the ANC has conducted itself,” said Ndou.

While the ANC said yesterday in a statement that other parties also failed to register due to technical issues, so far no other political parties had lodged complaints about this, the IEC said.

The ANC’s fate is, however, in the hands of the Constitutional Court, which is yet to decide on the postponement of the local government elections. Should the court decide to stick to the date of 27 October, this could mean the
ANC would be without candidates in more than 90 municipalities.

“The ANC decided to withdraw its application to the Electoral Court in the interests of avoiding a proliferation of litigation before our courts,” spokesperson Pule Mabe said yesterday.

“We will await the judgment of the Constitutional Court.”

Institute of Race Relations head of campaigns Gabriel Crouse said: “The ANC has locked itself into an electoral trap, especially in KZN, but if the Constitutional Court postpones the elections and calls for the process to begin afresh, the ANC may look back at this moment as one of expediency.”

– rorisangk@citizen.co.za