By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
African National Congress (ANC) deputy secretary-general Jessie Duarte has said it will approach the Electoral Court on Friday to ask the Independent Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) to consider reopening the local government candidate registration for at least one more day.
The extended deadline for all political parties to submit their candidate lists was August 23.
Speaking at a briefing on Thursday, Duarte said the ANC in dozens of municipalities failed to register their nominations.
“The ultimate impact, (is that) between 29 and 30 municipalities would not be able to vote for an ANC candidate if the system is not reopened to allow us to make the corrections that we need to make.”
Duarte said due to the glitches in the system, the party will head to the Electoral Court on Friday to ask for an extension to the deadline.
The IEC has already rejected the ANC’s appeal.
“We faced numerous challenges. Many candidates’ ID were rejected, they were not registered properly in the ward where they were selected as a candidate and therefore the IEC system did not have them as registered voter. Secondly, the IEC system repeatedly froze and locked out our administrators during the final few hours before the deadline. Data entered into the system was voided and had to be re-entered.
“We made the IEC aware of it and made a formal representation to the IEC to consider this. The IEC responded by saying the closing time was firm and therefore they are rejecting our appeal. For that reason, we going to the electoral court.”
The cut-off date for submission of nomination lists, nomination details and payment.
In its statement on Monday, the IEC said it will notify parties by Friday, 27 August about any outstanding documents, and by the end of the month about any candidates appearing on multiple lists. Final lists will be published by 7 September.
Last week, the ANC supported the IEC’s application to the Constitutional Court to have the 27 October local government elections postponed until February. The DA is opposed to such a postponement.
Until there is finality about a possible election postponement, the timetable is set to continue as if South Africans will go to the polls in October.