Sir
The suggestion by some political parties that the 2021 Local Government Elections (LGE) may be postponed to 2024 is on a collision course with Section 159(1) of the Constitution, which provides that: “Terms of Municipal Councils: 159.(1) The term of a Municipal Council may be no more than five years, as determined by national legislation”. Five years from August 2016 expires on August 2021, thus the 2021 LGE may not be beyond November 2021.
The understanding is that, for such a pipe-dream of postponing the 2021 LGE, the Constitution will need to be amended after thorough processes have been followed. The remaining time between now and November 2021 may prove inadequate and may turn the rushed process into a nightmare. It is for this reason that a Constitutional Court, in its recent judgment on the unconstitutionality of the Electoral Act, has allowed the government 24 months to amend it – it is a lengthy parliamentary process to amend an Act and even worse in circumstances where a Constitution has to be amended.
To this date, the process of amending Section 25 (which started ages ago) has not been finalised and is unlikely to be finalised any time soon. There is no section in the Constitution which allows for compromise of its provisions, therefore violations of the provisions of Section 159(1) may not be negotiated, not even by the majority party on its own or in cahoots with other parties.
Calls should therefore be made that all political parties allow the IEC space to fulfil its constitutional mandate by preparing for the 2021 LGE, without making pseudo proposals and squeaky noises that are attacks on and violations of the Constitution in as far as the 2021 Local Government Elections are concerned. The desire to cling onto running municipalities illegitimately is undesirable and should be cautioned against. This is my personal view, which does not represent any person or organisation I may be associated with.
Boysey Gumede
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