ANC to join IEC in polls postponement application, as DA opposes
African National Congress (ANC) deputy secretary-general Jessie Duarte says the party will join the IEC's application to have the municipal elections postponed.
Judge Dikgang Moseneke has recommended to the IEC that the poll be delayed due to the Covid-19 pandemic, but that it must be held no later than February.
Duarte says they are planning as if the poll will take place in October.
"Our major concern is that an election must be free and fair and that political parties must have an ability to properly explain their manifestos to the electorate and present their candidates in a well-orgainised manner.
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"Eighty percent of our branches have elected their candidates but have not concluded the community meetings where the candidates are presented."
The Democratic Alliance (DA) says it will oppose the application.
Party leader John Steenhuisen says the Constitution prescribes that the local government elections must take place within 90 days of the end of the five-year term of municipal councils.
He says it's the IEC's job to see that this happens.
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"The DA will ask to be joined as a party to the application so that we can put our views in front of the court and use our status as a respondent to fight for a timeous election and voter registrations.
'Through our lawyers, we have given the IEC a deadline of tomorrow, Friday 6 August, to aggress to stick to their prescribed timeframe for the holding of the elections and to insert a registration period ahead of the elections along with a mechanism to reopen the voters roll in order to add new names."
