Committee has until June to conclude hearings into Electoral Amendment Bill: Ramolobeng

Member of Parliament and Portfolio Committee on Home Affairs Kgomotso Ramolobeng says the committee has until June to conclude the hearings into the Electoral Amendment Bill in all nine provinces.

The committee hosted the hearings in Bloemfontein, where the primary objective is to provide for the inclusion of independent candidates to contest elections in the National Assembly and provincial legislatures.

Parliament was given 24 months by the Constitutional Court to remedy the defects which lapses in June this year, following the judgment which was handed down in June 2020. Ramolobeng explains what will happen next.

“The committee once it has finalised all nine provincial public hearings, it will then sit down as the committee, review, gather report for all these submissions that have been made and make a determination on what must be entailed in the bill,” says Kgomotso Ramolobeng.

The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) is opposed to the Electoral Amendment Bill. The party says there should be a threshold of at least 20 000 supporters for an independent candidate to qualify to stand for elections. This emerged during public hearings into the bill amendment in Bloemfontein today.

“As EFF we are not in support of the bill because we feel that the bill will come with a lot of administration, we think that both the parliament, the IEC are not ready for such an administration, but since well that constitutional court has ruled that people must stand as the independent candidates. We are saying as the EFF that the threshold for those who will stand as independent candidates should not be less than 20 000,” says EFF Mangaung Regional Secretary, Mpho Ramatlama.

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