ANC,DA wants municipal elections to take place in October,EFF wants them postponed.

By Lehlohonolo Lehana.

The ANC has recommended that the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) should plan for elections to be held on October 27 as planned.

This was said by ANC deputy secretary-general Jessie Duarte during virtual oral hearings at the Moseneke Inquiry into Free and Fair Local Government Elections during Covid-19 on Friday.

She said, however, they should not take the safety of the people lightly nor risk their lives by insisting they could campaign and vote as if they lived in normal times.

“The conditions that would justify the postponement of basic democratic rights would have to be judged objectively. Under current alert level 4 conditions, campaigning is impossible and the holding of safe elections is much more difficult. Under alert level 3 it is very difficult to campaign. Under alert level 1 and 2 the by-elections held have shown us that safe elections are possible, “said Duarte.

“Special voting should be extended to all over 40 and to the Sunday before election day to also include those who work on election day. If the extra day is unaffordable, elections could be held on Tuesday, October. 26

“If the restrictions on gatherings are not lifted soon, or the wave intensifies, the IEC should request the Constitutional Court to postpone for the shortest possible period, a minimum of one month and a maximum of six months,” said Duarte.

The Democratic Alliance’s Werner Horn told the chairperson of the inquiry, former deputy chief justice Dikgang Moseneke that the IEC must not use the excuse of rising Covid-19 infections to postpone the elections.

“I do understand that our Constitution does not require us to perform the impossible. But let’s not also create our own impossibilities. This pandemic is not going away soon. But we understand that we should get a break sometime between now and October, which could give time for voting and campaigning to take place,” Horn said.

The DA and several other political parties have argued that postponing the elections would be a great assault on South Africa’s democracy. 

Horn said political parties had had ample time to campaign on many platforms and this reason should not be used to stop people from going to the polls in October. 

“We stand by our submission that mass gatherings cannot be ruled as sole contributors to infections. We also think political parties must not make excuses about the short time available for campaigning. We are of the view that these elections must happen come hell or high water but regulations should be put in place to ensure they are conducted in a conducive manner,” said Horn. 

Meanwhile Julius Malema the leader of the Economic Freedom Fighters, said the elections will not be free and fair if held in October.

“They will also not protect the lives of our people. Even the announcement of an election date was made in a rally in KwaZulu-Natal and not on a neutral platform. As political parties we always live in fear of violating disaster management regulations. How much more if we do campaigns now,” Malema said.

He said that herd immunity could not be achieved any time soon and therefore holding elections was impossible. The current Covid-19 lockdown regulations would make it impossible for elections to take place in October, he added.

“Elections are not what happens on the day of elections. Elections are about what happens prior to the election. There should be a feeling already that elections are taking  place this year, through marches, rallies and motorcades. No one is agitating now and communities cannot express their frustrations before elections,” said Malema. 

“We propose that elections be postponed until April 2022. To say people must go and vote in this current climate, we will be subjecting them to what happened during assembly elections in India. We are in a war now, even the fact that the president released the defence force last year to come and enforce (Covid-19) regulations shows we are in a war.”

He said there would be a clearer sense of how effective the Covid-19 vaccines are by October.

Inquiry chairperson Moseneke said he would produce a report within three weeks.

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