Parties have until Friday to submit candidate lists
The road to the May 29 general election reaches a key marker on Friday when all independent candidates and political parties intending to participate must have submitted their nomination requirements.
The Electoral Commission of SA (IEC) will verify the documents and issue notices of noncompliance where warranted by March 18. Parties will be allowed to remove or substitute a candidate nominated by more than one party by March 25.
The provisional voters’ roll will be published on March 4 for public inspection. “Those who wish to object to the inclusion or exclusion of a voter on the voters’ roll must do so by March 4 2024. The objections received on or before March 4 2024 will be considered, investigated and determined by the commission by March 11 2024,” the IEC said in a statement.
The ANC’s national executive committee (NEC) will start an extended meeting today to decide on its lists. After that meeting, a list conference will be held for NEC members and alliance partners Cosatu and the SACP will consolidate the list.
The IFP is set to launch its election manifesto on March 10 at Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban. The IFP is the fourthlargest party in SA by votes’ and controls the majority of municipalities in KwaZuluNatal. This will be the party s first manifesto launch without its founder, Prince Mangosuthu Buthelezi, who died in 2023.
Party president Velenkosini Hlabisa will deliver the manifesto. KwaZulu-Natal has been a hotbed of political activity in the run-up to the elections, with the ANC and the EFF having held their manifesto rallies in the province in February, als at Moses Mabhida Stadium.
A recent poll by the Social Research Foundation, which interviewed 820 people in KwaZulu-Natal between January 31 and February 7, shows the Jacob Zuma-backed MK party could attract significant support in one of the ANC’s strongest provinces.
At 5.7-million, KwaZuluNatal has the second-highest number of registered voters, after Gauteng.
According to the poll, in the case of a 66% turnout, the MK party could win 24% of the votes in the province, while the ANC is projected to garner 25%, the DA 15%, the IFP 24%, the EFF 5% and others 6%. The study has a 5% margin of error.
This could be a huge blow to the governing party. In the 2019 general election, the ANC in KwaZulu-Natal received 1.9million votes (54.2%), down from the 2.4-million votes (64.5%) it mustered in 2014.
The MECs of finance in Gauteng and the Western Cape will present their budgets for 2024/25 this week. Gauteng finance MEC Jacob Mamabolo will table the provincial budget on Tuesday, while Western Cape finance MEC Mireille Wenger will table the province’s budget on Thursday.