President’s election claim ruffles feathers
PRESIDENT Cyril Ramaphosa’s declaration that the 2021 local government elections will be held in October has irked some political parties in the National Assembly.
While on the campaign trail for the ANC ahead of by-elections, in the Kwazulu-natal township of Mpumalanga, Ramaphosa told ANC supporters: “The ANC will win this coming by-elections, the next one, and it will also win when we go to local government elections in October.”
This is despite the fact that the Electoral Commission of SA is yet to confirm the date for the much anticipated elections, with political parties set to meet with the commission on Thursday to discuss issues around the elections. Yesterday, the commission did not respond to emailed questions regarding the official date of the elections.
The EFF is one of the parties that have called for a postponement of the elections, with spokesperson Vuyani Pambo saying Ramaphosa’s statement shows the “brazenness” of his administration. “The first thing is that he’s not the president of the ANC only; he’s also president of the country. He can’t take official government matters such as the announcement of the elections and make it privy to the ANC.
“What this shows us is that there is more that the ANC enjoys in as far as information is concerned that other political parties are not favoured with, because the announcement of the elections is a sensitive thing; it doesn’t happen over a beer,” Pambo said.
NFP Ahmed Munzoor Shaik Emam said Ramaphosa’s statement had been reckless, adding that the ANC may be the majority party, but it was not the only party representing the people on the ground. “Whatever you do, you must always put the people’s interests first. Given that there’s Covid-19 and we’re anticipating a third wave, we’re in a difficult position and people are not going to be able to campaign; people are not going to be able to go out and interact with their electorate on the ground.”
UDM leader Bantu Holomisa said parties had been talking about elections in August, and even November, and therefore Ramaphosa was entitled to speculate.
“That was not an official announcement by him, so I don’t attach any seriousness in what he said.”
However, DA co-operative governance spokesperson and MP Cilliers Brink welcomed Ramaphosa’s view that the elections will be held in October,
Brink said it was crucial for the local government elections to go ahead according to the constitutional time line.