The Middelburg and Hendrina Residents Front (MHRF) is of the view that postponing elections will do irreparable damage to the country’s democracy.
A month ago, EFF leader Julius Malema announced that his party wanted this year’s local government elections to be postponed until 2024 as they can be regarded as super spreaders of Covid-19. “To run elections in such a climate will constitute an undermining of democracy as well as putting the lives of society at risk,” Malema said then.
MHRF spokesperson Thato Mathunyane said that delaying or postponing the local government elections will weaken the democracy beyond repair. “If we don’t have elections this year, are we still a democratic society?” he asked. “Obviously not because we will be doing something without consulting the voters. The IEC should not set a wrong precedence that will be a replica of scenes full of errors. The proposal to postpone elections is undemocratic and the constitution says in Section 159 the term of office for municipal council may be no more than 5 years,” he said.
“Imagine us postponing elections to 2024 with such a government that increases rates and taxes as they please, giving themselves extravagant salaries and back pays, appointing unqualified personnel in high positions some with criminal records,” Mathunyane said.
MHRF, formed in December last year, also announced they will contest the by-elections in ward 22 to fill a vacant position following the death of Councillor Patrick “Dertig” Motau. “We are definitely going to contest. We are in the process of finalising registration with the IEC and, after that, we will be in a position to announce our candidate in the ward,” he said.
Malema who managed to win support of the ruling party, ANC, also said he would try and get support of other parties. However, the proposal was thrown out of the window when the IEC announced the elections would continue as planned.
Chief Electoral Officer, Mawethu Mosery, was quoted as saying, “The current framework is five years plus 90 days,” he said. “There is no legal platform to postpone beyond 90 days. If there was a need to postpone beyond 90 days, that platform would have to be created legislatively.”
