Free and fair elections cannot be held during COVID-19 pandemic : Moseneke

Former Deputy Chief Justice Dikgang Moseneke says free and fair elections cannot be held during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Moseneke was handing over his report on whether free and fair local government elections can be held in the country, in the midst of the pandemic.

Full report below:

The inquiry received more than 4 000 submissions from the public, as well as political parties, health experts, and electoral role players.

Moseneke delivers his full report : 

Moseneke says that free and fair elections will not be possible on October 27. He says the IEC’s election schedule will be severely affected if elections proceed then as the voter registration weekend scheduled for 31 July and 1 August 2021 is due to take place shortly after alert level 4 of the COVID-19 lockdown is expected to be lifted.

He also says that there will be limited time for political parties to canvass voters, impacting the ability to make an informed choice.

IEC Chairperson Glen Mashinini has thanked Moseneke and his team for carrying out the inquiry.  Mashinini has described the investigation as in-depth, comprehensive, and transparent and has outlined what happens next.

He says that although the time to carry out the probe was limited, the inquiry was able to complete its task in 61 days, one day before the scheduled deadline.