Staff Reporter.
ActionSA is heading to court to challenge the Electoral Commission of SA’s (IEC) decision not to include the party’s name in the ballot paper for the local government elections.
The party announced on Monday that the IEC had failed to meet its 10am deadline to remedy the situation.
The party had, on Sunday night, issued a statement stating that its name had been omitted from the final draft ballot papers which were shown to political parties at a signatory event on Saturday.
ActionSA appeared to be the only party that did not have its name alongside its logo and ward candidate.
The party said it had written to the IEC in which it spelled out its grievance with the omission. It had given the IEC until Monday at 10am to correct the issue.
The party cited a 2019 study compiled by the Human Sciences Research Council which showed that how political parties, logos and names, appeared on the ballot paper affected voter perception.
The study also stressed the need to make it easier for voters to identify their chosen political party of preference.
When approached for comment on Monday, the IEC said: “The electoral commission is aware of the ActionSA matter and has been dealing with it together with [the] party”.
The commission did not respond to whether ballot papers had already been printed and if and when the issues raised by ActionSA would be corrected.
Last month, the IEC had omitted ActionSA’s candidates for its lists in Gauteng. The matter was quickly corrected by the IEC.
This was not the first dispute the party, headed by former Joburg mayor Herman Mashaba, had with the IEC.
When the party registered with the IEC in 2020, there were concerns raised over its logo’s similarity with another registered political party.