‘Zille should be ashamed of herself,’ says ANC as it explains electoral court withdrawal

The African National Congress (ANC) has quelled allegations by Democratic Alliance (DA) Federal Chairperson Helen Zille that its decision to withdraw the application to the electoral court for the reopening of candidate registration was based on ‘leaks’ from the much-awaited judgment from the Constitutional Court on elections.

In a series of tweets on Tuesday Zille said there was more the ANC’s sudden withdrawal of the application.

“The ANC’s withdrawal from the electoral court indicates that they have been tipped off that the IEC’s application to postpone the election was successful. If information is leaking from the ConCourt to the ANC, it is nothing short of an Constitutional crisis,” reads Zille’s Wednesday tweet.

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The ANC on Wednesday released a statement saying this was: “a grave insult to the integrity of the Constitutional Court, and the judiciary in general”.

“These insinuations are devoid of any truth. Not surprisingly… Zille does not adduce a shred of evidence to support her utterances.

“She should be ashamed of herself. We challenge her to withdraw these spurious allegations,” reads the statement.

“The ANC decided to withdraw its application to the electoral court in the interests of avoiding a proliferation of litigation before our Courts. We will await the judgment of the Constitutional Court. We reserve our right to pursue further remedies.”

Zille was commenting on an article published in Afrikaans publication, Die Burger.

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The publication, in its headline, suggested that the ANC must have received inside information from the Constitutional Court, which led to the party withdrawing its case before the electoral court to reopen candidate registration.

If true, she said this would be sufficient proof that “cadre deployment will have destroyed every institution, right up to the ConCourt, turning them into instruments of ANC power abuse, rather than protectors of the people against ANC power abuse. That is the crisis we are facing now. South Africans must wake up.”