It remains unclear whether next year’s local government elections will take place or be postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. During its 7th anniversary celebrations, Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) reiterated its call for one election, adding that the 2021 local government elections should be postponed to 2024.
The party is supported by the governing African National Congress (ANC) on the merging of local government and provincial and national elections.
However, the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) says they are preparing for next year’s polls which they expect to take place between August and November.
During their presentation to the Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Home Affairs last month, the IEC said that according to the constitution, local government elections in 2021 must be held between 4th of August and 1st November.
The commission’s Deputy Chief Executive, Masego Shiburi says, “A term of a municipal council is prescribed for 5 years. So, any move that prolongs that term will have necessary corresponding implications on the legal scheme. On its part, the electoral commission is proceeding with preparations as though an election must be held between August and November 2021. If a decision is taken before then we will adjust our plans accordingly, but as we sit, we are preparing for an election that must be held between August and November 2021.”
‘Elections should be postponed’
During the party’s 7th anniversary address last week EFF leader, Julius Malema reiterated this call adding that next year’s local government elections should be postponed.
“We, therefore, call on all political parties to engage in a democratic parliamentary process that should postpone the 2021 local government elections to 2024 and introduce a single elections regime, which will mean that there should be only one election in South Africa from 2024 onwards,” says Malema.
In the video below, Julius Malema’s virtual address during EFF’s 7th anniversary:
‘Opportunity for the electorate’
However, the Democratic Alliance (DA) is opposed to this move. The party’s Provincial Chairperson in Gauteng, Mike Moriarty, argued that local government elections are an opportunity for the electorate to warn the government of the day if they are not doing well and also to judge how services are provided in their areas.
“The problem with having multiple elections in one day is that the local government elections issues will be crowded out. You wouldn’t hear about it. They wouldn’t get debated. The only thing you will hear in terms of campaigning will be the national issues of the day; who will be the president; how is the economy run (and) all of that. We think that people who live in the city should be able to judge very fairly those people who are running those cities on the basis of the services provided.”
Synchronized elections
Meanwhile, civil organisation, My Vote Counts, says they are not opposed to the synchronising of elections, as long as a free and fair election can be guaranteed.
“It’s very difficult to say at the moment whether the merging of elections will be successful or whether the constitution will be amended with regard to the synchronisation of elections. However, what is important particularly, is that if at this point in time, the synchronisation of elections will ensure free and fair elections. Then this is an option that we are available to explore.”
Political analyst Steven Friedman said combining elections will not only reduce the importance of local government elections, but there’s also the issue of the recent Constitutional Court ruling on the electoral act.
“The other problem is that we have a Constitutional Court judgement which may lead to us having to change the national and provincial system to make it look like more like the local system and that will mean that you’ll have an extra ballot in the national and provincial system and the result. Maybe that is simply be unmanageable for electoral officials to run that number of ballot and number of elections on a day. So, it is not good for democracy. It’s not good for the government to combine them.”
