Zille taunts ANC on missed election deadline: Why not blame Van Riebeeck?

As the fallout of the ANC’s horror electoral registration week continues to plague the party, the DA’s federal council chairperson, Helen Zille, was quick to take another shot at the ruling party after it blamed the Covid-19 pandemic for missing the IEC’s registration deadline for numerous candidates.

She asked the ANC sarcastically if their problems hadn’t been caused by Jan van Riebeeck, a clear mockery of the ANC’s penchant to use either the country’s apartheid past, or more distant colonial history, to excuse any current failings.

The embattled ANC approached the electoral court on Friday to apply for an order that the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) reopen the registration of local government candidates for one day. 

ANC deputy secretary-general Jessie Duarte told the media on Thursday that they had needed more time to complete their processes.

The party has been racked by infighting, divisions and strike action, although Duarte chose to focus only on the issues caused by the Covid-19 lockdown.

She claimed some of the challenges experienced on Monday had been beyond the ANC’s control.

“First of all, Covid-19 alert level four lockdown banned meetings for most of July, and this meant that more than 15,000 branches and community meetings had to be held from late July until the 20th of August to nominate and hold community meetings with ward candidates.

“This had a massive impact on the already packed deadlines we had.

“Our deadlines were very hard to meet, we faced numerous challenges and many candidates’ identity documents were rejected due to the absence of voter registration week,” Duarte told Thursday’s media briefing.

The ANC has also complained that the IEC’s electronic system had kept freezing.

According to the ANC, only about 30 of its candidates were not registered, but rumours abound that the true figure may be higher.

After the IEC seemed unwilling to consider representations from the ANC, the party was forced to go the legal route, Duarte said.

Crunch time for ANC

Elections set for 27 October this year may be postponed to next year February, depending on a much-awaited ruling from the Constitutional Court after the Independent Electorial Commission of SA applied to postpone elections.

This was driven mainly by fears that the Covid-19 pandemic might cause the elections to be subjected to court challenge about them not being free and fair.

To add to the ANC’s worries that the elections may in fact not be postponed, the Concourt justices at times appeared to show scepticism over the application while it was being argued earlier this month.

ALSO READ: ConCourt reserves judgment on whether elections can be delayed 

The ANC was originally hoping to register 10,000 or so candidates, but reportedly without a willingness from admin staff to work overtime, the party was up against the clock to make the deadline on Monday, which the IEC extended from 5pm to 9pm.

The ANC will not be allowed to contest the wards it failed to register candidates for if the elections are not postponed.

ALSO READ: ‘Broke’ ANC faces another multimillion-rand court claim – report 

The party is regularly racked by violence and murder when it comes to the issue of who stands as a councillor, especially in KwaZulu-Natal, but increasingly countrywide too. It seems inevitable that some of the nominations in ANC branches will end up being challenged in court, too, further complicating its election plans.

Meanwhile, the Patriotic Alliance (PA) on Thursday threatened legal action should the IEC give the ANC another chance to register its candidates.

Zille said on Thursday that her party had registered its candidates without any glitches.

“Strangely, Jessie, the IEC’s online candidate submission system worked well for us. Was it only faulty when it came to the ANC’s submission?” she tweeted on Thursday. 

“Worth remembering that in 2016 the IEC disqualified the National Freedom Party from the election for missing the submission deadline. Now that the ANC wants to do so, let us watch their response very closely.”

Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) national spokesperson Mkhuleko Hlengwa concurred that the IEC must do to the ANC what it did to the NFP in 2016.

“2011: #IFP missed submission deadlines in Mzumbe and parts of Mpumalanga. 2016: NFP missed the registration fee deadline. The Electoral Court upheld the IEC timeline and denied participation on both counts. In 2021 precedence must be upheld re ANC application on same,” he tweeted.

PA leader Gayton McKenzie said his party would consider legal options should the IEC make an exception for the ruling party. 

“The IEC dare not give the ANC another chance, we shall fight this with all our legal might if they were to be given a chance to register candidates for municipalities where they were either late or didn’t register their candidates,” said McKenzie on social media. 

“All parties were subjected to the same system and timelines, we all tried our best, the IEC is not a desk of the ANC, the National Freedom Party in 2016 Local Government Elections didn’t register on time and was banned from participating in the 2016 LGE.

“Fair is fair, let the ANC also be disqualified from the 35 municipalities where they didn’t register to vote. The voters will have a lot of other choices to make. The position of the PA is clear, the IEC should do same to ANC like what they did to NFP in 2016.”

– Compiled by Charles Cilliers