By-elections postponed due to second surge of Covid
"In accordance with the Municipal Structures Act, the seat became vacant in the ward, as well as in the city council."
The by-elections of 17 February in wards 92 (East and Moot), 58 (Central), 88 (Soshanguve) and 3 (West) was postponed by the Independent Electoral Committee (IEC).
The DA Chief whip, Christo van den Heever, said the decision was made by the chief electoral officer in light of the impact of the second surge of Covid-19.
“We await the final decision from the Electoral Court since the court application seeks to extend the 90-day period within which by-elections of councillor vacancies must take place. The DA approached the court to request that the by-elections will be held before the local government elections (LGE).”
In ward 92 (Riviera to Clydesdale) DA ward councillor Abel Tau resigned on 27 July from the party.
Van den Heever said in accordance with the municipal structures act, the seat became vacant in the ward, as well as in the city council.
The DA has already appointed their candidate, Leanne de Jager.
Chief whip for the ANC, Aaron Maluleka, said their meetings for nominations of candidates were delayed, but will be made public soon.
FF Plus’ chief whip, Ben Erasmus, said the party awaited the date of the by-election before they proceed to appoint a candidate or decide whether or not to participate in the election.
EFF’s chief whip, Precious Mnguni, also indicated that they await the new date before proceeding to appoint a candidate.
Cope’s chief whip, Abel Ngwana, said after doing a technical analysis of previous election results, the party decided to concentrate on preparing for the LGE due to take place later this year.
De Jager said she believes there will be feedback in respect of a date around mid-February.
“October still seems to be the target date for the LGE.”
The IEC recently announced the results of the 24 by-elections held across 17 municipalities in all nine provinces on 9 December 2020.
Results per party:
– The ANC retained 12 wards, lost one ward and won five new wards.
– The DA retained six wards but lost two wards.
– The Land Party won one new ward.
– The Better Residents Association lost three wards.
The average turnout in the by-elections was 34.6% with the highest turnout being 62.9% (ward 3 in NC084 – !Kheis) and the lowest being 11.7% (ward 15 in the City of Cape Town).
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