By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The Labour Party, a newly registered political start-up by one of SA’s largest mining unions, is set to approach the high court on Friday for an order to compel the Electoral Commission of SA (IEC) to extend its March 8 deadline for submission of nomination for the 2024 national and provincial elections.
The driving force behind it is the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu) and its charismatic leader Joseph Mathunjwa.
At its debut press briefing at Constitution Hill in Johannesburg, the Labour Party said it was striving to meet the deadline, but was seeking to have it extended in court.
“The Labour Party will be taking the IEC to the high court tomorrow to extend the deadlines in the election timetable; namely, the cut-off dates for submissions which obliged newly registered and/or unrepresented parties to comply with section 27 of the Electoral Act by Friday, 8 March 2024,” the party said.
“The Labour Party also contends, in short, that without this interdict it seeks through the high court, the elections will not be free and fair. The Labour Party is not the only affected party, and absent the interdict, there is an adverse effect [on] the integrity of the elections.”
The party claims that it has 65,000 signatures of support but uploading them takes, well, time, and that it will be pressed to meet the deadline set out in newly amended IEC regulations for new and smaller parties to get on the ballot.
The Labour Party’s campaign slogan is “The power is in your hands” and it sees unemployment as “enemy number one, and it is fair to say that it is unemployment that leads to poverty and inequality”.
The Labour Party also faces a field of contenders claiming to carry the torch of “radical economic transformation” – or radical economic looting in the view of more than a few critics – who are vying for the ANC vote. This includes Zuma’s uMkhonto Wesizwe party, which could make inroads with the rural Zulu vote.The Labour Party could perhaps find some support around mining towns such as Rustenburg or in the rural Eastern Cape where many Amcu members have been drawn from.
The IEC has set 8 March as the cut-off date to secure the signatures and for all those parties and independent candidates who intend contesting the poll to meet all of the requirements for registration.
The IEC will then verify nominations and issue notices of non-compliance to those who have not met requirements on 18 March. Affected parties will have until 20 March to rectify non-compliance.
Provisional candidate lists will be published for public inspection and for potential objection by interested parties on 26 March and 27 March, with the final decision on objections to be taken on 28 March.