By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
President Cyril Ramaphosa has announced that South Africans will go to the polls on 29 May 2024, setting the stage for a contest in which his ruling party faces the biggest threat to its national majority since coming to power three decades ago.
A proclamation to declare the date will be issued in due course, Ramaphosa said in a statement on Tuesday. The announcement came the day before Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana presents his annual budget.
The announcement follows a meeting with the nine premiers and the Independent Electoral Commission to discuss the state of readiness for the polls.
The 2024 elections coincide with South Africa’s celebration of 30 years of freedom and democracy.
This is the first time in the history of South Africa that independent candidates will be eligible to stand as candidates for president and provincial polls.
“Beyond the fulfilment of our constitutional obligation, these upcoming elections are also a celebration of our democratic journey and a determination of the future that we all desire,” Ramaphosa said.
“I call on all South Africans to exercise their democratic right to vote and for those who will be campaigning to do so peacefully, within the full observance of the law. We also urge unregistered voters to use the online registration platform to register.”
Meanwhile the ruling ANC is embroiled in a separate trademark case with the MK Party, where the party argues that the latter’s use of a logo that closely resembles that of the ANC’s military wing, uMkhonto weSizwe, will confuse voters.
In papers submitted to the Electoral Court, the ANC argues that after the party’s registration was initially rejected, they had to start the process from scratch instead of supplementing their application as there is no lawful process to do so.
“On 4 August 2023, the Deputy Chief Electoral Officer gave his decision and rejected uMkhonto Wesizwe’s application for registration of a political party. The reason for this was that the application did not ‘substantially comply with the provisions of section 15 of the Electoral Commission Act…’
“uMkhonto Wesizwe was informed that the rejection did not prevent it from submitting a fresh application, complying with all the requirements to the Chief Electoral Officer [Sy Mamabolo], “according to the documents.
The governing party claims that the two section 15(4A) notices published by MK Party were defective in that they were based on outdated and incorrect templates and were further referred incorrectly to section 16(1)(a) of the Electoral Commission Act.
The affidavit says the MK Party failed to publish a fresh notice in the Government Gazette informing the public that it seeks registration.
By not gazetting their application, the ANC believes the public was deprived the opportunity to get more information about the party or give them the opportunity to lodge objections.
“The publication in the Government Gazette is not a requirement that can be overlooked. Publication serves an important purpose: the public may consider the applicant party’s details and decide whether they wish to lodge an objection.”
If they lodge an application and the Chief Electoral Officer registers the political party, the objector has a right to appeal against that decision to the Electoral Commission. The publication in the Government Gazette is of national importance. It cannot be wished away. The law requires publication by the party and that publication must take place,” the documents read.