ELECTIONS WON’T BE BUSINESS AS USUAL THIS YEAR

THE official date of this year’s local government elections has been set.

Voters across the country are expected to cast their ballots at different voting stations on October 27. But it won’t be business as usual. These municipal elections come amid a global pandemic which has changed the manner in which we conduct events of this magnitude.

In his announcement on Wednesday evening, President Cyril Ramaphosa made no mention of how the elections are expected to unfold in compliance with Covid-19 protocols. He did, however, urge first-time voters and those who are eligible to ensure they are registered.

As we wait for the Minister of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma, to officially proclaim the date, Ramaphosa’s announcement is likely to be the green light that political parties have been waiting for to intensify their campaigns. It will be interesting to see if the National Coronavirus Command Council will deliberate how campaigns should occur.

Will we begin seeing door-to-door campaigns? Often during campaigning, we see political party members and leaders converging in communities and visiting the homes of some community members.

It’s quite evident that with the ongoing Covid-19 infection rate and Covid-19-related deaths, political parties need to be innovative. The safety of people at this stage supersedes any attempts by parties to grow their numbers ahead of the elections.

Previously, ANC deputy treasurer-general Jessie Duarte indicated that the emergence of the coronavirus had compelled the governing party to use different technology tools to advance the work and deliberations held at branch and provincial level.

To do this, she said they were looking at conducting virtual meetings.

Over the next few months, we may also see an increase in service-delivery protests as people remind parties about the fact that post-democracy, some of their basic needs have not been met.

This means that some of these events could turn into super-spreaders of the virus.

It is therefore everyone’s responsibility – government and civil society – to ensure that as people pursue their democratic right to vote, we do not lose many South Africans to Covid-19.