600 000 to vote on 11 Nov
COUNCIL BACKLOG: ELECTORAL COMMISSION RESUMES BY-ELECTIONS
Voting at 96 wards in all provinces across 461 districts on the same day.
In a first in South Africa’s history of democracy, the country is to hold 96 by-elections on single day to fill the vacancies for councillors – less than a year before next year’s local government elections.
The backlog in by-elections was caused by the postponements forced by the declaration of the state of disaster and the lockdown due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
As a result, no by-elections have been held since March. At least 70 countries and territories, including South Africa, had postponed elections this year due to the coronavirus outbreak.
The Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) plans to clear the backlog with nationwide simultaneous by-elections on 11 November.
The 96 ward by-elections taking place in 56 municipalities were made possible by President Cyril Ramaphosa’s announcements last week that the country was to move to Level 1 from yesterday. This resulted in the easing of most of the restrictions, including the lifting of restrictions on political activities.
According to the IEC, this followed consultations with Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, as well as representatives of political parties at a special national party liaison committee meeting on Thursday.
The vacancies included those that emerged from dissolution of two councils in the Northern Cape where public representative (PR) candidates must also be elected after nine PR seats in Phokwane and three PR seats in Renosterberg became vacant.
“The decision by the commission to approach the Electoral Court for postponements of by-elections since March was not taken lightly,” said IEC chairperson Glen Mashinini.
“But given the risk to human life and restriction of political activity, the commission had no choice but to postpone the by-elections.
“Now that circumstances have improved, we are ready to give voters their political voice back.”
The by-elections are scheduled in all provinces across 461 voting districts, involving more than 600 000 voters.
According to IEC chief electoral officer Sy Mamabolo, the by-elections would be held under strict new Covid-19 protocols aimed at ensuring the safety of voters, election staff, party agents, observers and other stakeholders. These included implementing strict social distancing practices at voting stations, along with the use of hand sanitisers.
“Voters, election staff and all those entering the voting station will be required to wear a mask. Voters are also encouraged to bring their own pens to mark their ballot papers, although pens will be provided and sanitised after each use,” Mamabolo said.
He expressed confidence the strict measures would allow for free and fair elections to proceed in a safe environment.
He said prior to the polls being held, there would be education programmes to teach voters in the affected wards on the new safety protocols. Similarly, additional training for election staff was being done to familiarise them with the new protocols and processes.
We are ready to give voters their political voice back