Could postponement of elections rob SA of chance to purge corrupt politicians?

With the local government elections likely to be postponed after retired Deputy Chief Justice Moseneke proposed that to the Electoral Commission of South Africa, some political parties, like ActionSA, have found time to fine-tune their candidate selection systems to make them more democratic.

But political analyst Prof Lesiba Teffo questioned the rationale behind the likely postponement of the polls, saying voters had enough of corrupt and incompetent councillors.

“What guarantee do we have that the situation shall have changed in February or June next year? What about those who expected to part ways with incompetent and corrupt councillors?

“Why and how do others get it right or continue with elections and sports despite the pandemic?” asked Teffo.

“We must envision a future with the pandemic as a new normal. Daunting as it might appear, it is in our hands.”

The local government polls were still scheduled for 27 October, until the electoral commission proposed for their postponement to the state, but the Moseneke recommendation was not binding on the commission, which recommended that the elections be held in February 2022.

New kid on the block, former Joburg mayor Herman Mashaba’s ActionSA, has successfully explored the democratisation of nominations by allowing communities to directly elect candidates of their choice, instead of the party imposing on people.