By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The IEC has accepted the recommendations and findings of former deputy chief justice Dikgang Moseneke inquiry into the feasibility of holding this year’s local government elections.
The chairperson of the IEC Glen Mashinini made the announcement at a media briefing in Pretoria a short while ago. He said the IEC would be approaching the courts for a determination on the extension of the polls scheduled for 27 October 2021.
This could either be the Electoral Court or the Constitutional Court, Mashinini said.
On Tuesday,Moseneke inquiry into the feasibility of holding local government elections this year found that the scheduled elections would likely not be free and fair.
Moseneke said that the current timetable set for the registration of voters and all the processes around the announcement of the date of the elections, cannot reasonably be kept, given the uncertainty of the lockdown level and restrictions in place.
He added that between now and scheduled elections of October 27, there would not be enough time for either the IEC or political parties to prepare for elections and campaign fairly and freely in the midst of a lockdown.
Moseneke concurred with the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) that, in a state of disaster and lockdown, it would not be possible for voters and politicians to freely exercise their democratic rights.
“The commission approached the court eight times in the last five months to postpone by-elections and voter registration and all of these were granted by the electoral court. It is concluded that voters will stay away from the the polls as a result of the virus variants.”
The former deputy chief justice encouraged the country to continue with its vaccine programme, especially for the more vulnerable in society, which he joked included himself.
He expressed hope that 40 million South Africans might be vaccinated by February, which would be the threshold to achieve herd immunity.
Moseneke recommended the polls be held no later than the end of February 2022.