Election delay ‘not an option’
A LOCAL election postponement is not an option, as it will require a constitutional amendment, Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Minister Desmond van Rooyen says.
CAPE TOWN — A postponement of the local government election was not an option because it would need a constitutional amendment, Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs Minister Desmond van Rooyen said yesterday.
An estimated 16-million registered voters do not have their residential address listed on the voters roll, making them ineligible to vote. The Electoral Court determined that the Electoral Commission of SA (IEC) must have the residential addresses of registered voters before the election.
This has led to speculation that the local government election, set for August 3, could be postponed to allow the IEC to meet the constitutional requirement.
The Constitutional Court is expected to clarify the addresses issue on Monday.
Speaking to reporters before his department’s budget vote in Parliament yesterday, Mr van Rooyen said that the local government election date would not change regardless of the Constitutional Court challenge.
“If we were to postpone elections, that would require a constitutional amendment, so that is not an option,” he said.
“We are more concerned about making sure that the physical addresses matter is settled so that no South Africans are disadvantaged by this gap.”
Andries Nel, the department’s deputy minister responsible for cooperative governance, said the department had assembled a team to develop a “geo-coding” system for those voters without listed addresses should the Constitutional Court uphold the ruling.
Mr Nel said the system would involve developing codes for voters’ physical location, which would act as a residential address for the purpose of having them registered and preserving their right to vote.
The IEC’s chief electoral officer, Vuma Mashinini, said Statistics SA would manage the project aimed at allocating geo-coded dwelling unit identifiers to voters with incon- clusive residential address details.
Obed Bapela, the department’s deputy minister responsible for traditional affairs, said traditional leaders would help provide sufficient residential addresses for voters living in rural areas.
The IEC’s vice-chairman, Terry Tselane, said that the IEC was unlikely to seek a postponement on a date it had already agreed upon with the minister.
“It is not on the cards and will not happen. They said the last day we can have elections is on August 16. Anything else would require the Constitution to be changed. They have commissioned us to not have such plans to change,” he said.
Constitutional law expert Pierre de Vos said that, regardless of the expected judgment by the Constitutional Court on Monday, holding the local government elections on the announced date was “non-negotiable”.
“There is little wriggle room, but the original court judgment didn’t say a physical address was needed for every voter. It merely said from the previous process, there were addresses needed. If there was a problem, the commission needed to do something extra,” Prof de Vos said.