The Constitutional Court is today expected to deliver the highly-anticipated judgment on the Electoral Amendment Act.
Build One South Africa (Bosa) and the Independent Candidates’ Association took the matter to the court earlier this year as they said the Act was unconstitutional. They argue that the Act restricted the participation of independent candidates in the elections and their representation in the National Assembly, compared to political party candidates.
The court ruling could drastically impact next year’s national elections.
Legal practitioner Mpumelelo Zikalala says, “It’s only a principle of fairness to say how are we going to accommodate the independent candidates? How are we going to make sure that you are taking the views and the will of the people into account when allocating the seats to political parties and to independents.”
“Once that public consultative process has been done and the window of opening up any objections has been closed, then the voters’ roll will be closed and then we can go and vote for those individuals that have been approved,” adds Zikalala.
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