ACT’s Concourt loss will hurt it – analyst

THE Constitutional Court judgment handed down on Friday against the African Congress for Transformation (ACT) will make it difficult for the party to have a seat in the National Assembly, according to an analyst.

On Friday, the apex court ruled in favour of the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC), which found that the online candidate nomination system functioned without issues at the relevant time.

This was after ACT and two other parties blamed their failure to submit the required signatures on time on the IEC’s online portal which, they allege, malfunctioned.

However, the IEC opposed the three applications before the apex court and submitted that if the court granted the relief sought, the IEC would not be in a position to deliver free and fair elections on May 29.

The other parties that were denied an extension were the newly formed Labour Party and the Afrikan Alliance of Social Democrats.

Analyst Michael Atkins said the ruling meant that ACT would lose the ability to get regional votes from their supporters in other areas such as the Free State or North West, which would make it harder for them to obtain National Assembly seats.

“ACT are on the national ballot, but the only regional ballot they are on is the Western Cape. However, they are contesting provincial legislatures in the Eastern Cape, Free State, Gauteng, North West and Northern Cape.

“A small point about their loss is that the Concourt did not in the end grant ACT leave to appeal the Electoral Court decision.

“This means that the court did not decide on the merits of their case that the IEC candidate and signature submission systems did not function correctly in the final days before the March 8 deadline,” Atkins said.

ACT’s spokesperson, Mohau Khumalo, said his party accepted the Concourt’s judgment.

However, he said they were disappointed as they could not get the help they needed.

“ACT does not see this as a setback as our campaign will continue as usual without any changes. However, we are aware of false media reports that deliberately seek to mislead the public about the outcome of the verdict.

“We are therefore invited to clarify the following: ACT will contest the national elections in all nine states.

“We will contest the provincial elections in six provinces – (in all) except Limpopo, Mpumalanga and the Western Cape,” he said.

Despite the setback, the party was still hopeful that it would get significant seats in the National Assembly.

Party leader Ace Magashule said he was confident that they would take Free State from the governing party, as well as the North West and the Northern Cape.

During the by-elections in Aliwal North in the Eastern Cape, they managed to get a seat at their first by-election attempt.