The party is pressed to avoid yet another glitch with the IEC, after the commission previously rejected its list meant for the Local Government Elections (LGE) where 19 wards out of 403 in the province were affected. 

On Monday, the Constitutional Court (ConCourt) decided that the decision of the IEC to reopen the candidate nomination process for the 2021 municipal elections, in terms of the court order issued on 3 September 2021, is not unconstitutional, unlawful, and invalid. 

Meanwhile, the ANC IPC’s coordinator, Hlomani Chauke, says the party is relieved that previously affected wards will now have yet another chance to submit their lists. Chauke says the ConCourt judgment has confirmed the responsibility of the IEC.

“All of these things came because of nothing else but because we operated in a very abnormal situation called Covid-19 and as a result of that the IEC has readjusted its self and deal with all the issues. The application by the IEC was confirmed by the ConCourt, that such responsibility lies with the IEC and the applications to hold the reopening of nomination lists by the IEC as unconstitutional, unlawful, and invalid, was mischievous and just trying to play politics in a sense that they believe that the majority of our candidates would have not [registered]. Unfortunately, even now during the voters’ registration, we have identified that there were still serious challenges and weaknesses,” he says.

Chauke adds that the party is happy and relieved that the process will be fair and just for everyone, including the independent candidates who might have also failed to register in time with the commission.

Chauke, previously told OFM News that the fault was with the IEC. He said the fault lied squarely with the IEC and the issue had nothing to do with the party because they did their due diligence.

The ANC in the Free State and Northern Cape are in the clear as all candidate lists were submitted on time without any incidents. The actions by the IEC then propelled the DA to launch a court bid with the Concourt, to challenge the IEC. 

The party labelled the IEC’s decision as unfair and wanted the decision to be overturned.

OFM News