Local government elections: DA, GOOD and IFP announce mayoral candidates

Political parties had until 9pm on Monday to submit their mayoral nominations for the upcoming local government elections after the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) postponed the initial deadline.

Local goverment elections:

Mayoral candidates

Most parties met the new deadline and revealed their candidates publicly, with the Democratic Alliance’s (DA’s) John Steenhuisen saying “this means knowing exactly who you’ll be voting for”.

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Mpho Phalatse was nominated for City of Johannesburg, Refiloe Nt’sekhe for Ekurhuleni; Geordin Hill-Lewis for Cape Town; Randall Williams for the Tshwane; and Nqaba Banga for Nelson Mandela Bay.

The Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) also submitted its candidate lists to the IEC, “in keeping with the IEC’s current timetable for the upcoming local government elections”.

“Our candidates are ready to stand up, speak up, and serve the people of their constituencies”, the party said.

The GOOD party submitted 961 ward councillor candidates and 761 proportional representation councillor candidates to the IEC.

The party also announced Brett Heron as its mayoral candidate for 2021, while ActionSA introduced its West Rand constituency ward candidates on Monday morning.

The electoral commission has until 31 August to notify parties of any candidates appearing on multiple party lists.

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Local goverment elections budget

In May this year, the IEC revealed that R1.9 billion had been budgeted to cover the cost of the 2021 local government elections after chief electoral officer Sy Mamabolo conceded South Africa’s fiscal climate and battered economy had led to drastic cuts in commission operations amounting to R663 million.

The 2021-2022 budget will see 27% spent on electoral operations, staff expansion and events.

Some 10% of the budget will be spent on registration, voting materials, warehousing and distribution costs, while 4% has been allocated to communication and media.

Additional reporting by Molefe Seeletsa