Black First Land First will contest the May elections after the Freedom Front Plus’s bid to deregister them failed.
The FF Plus’s application was nullified after the Electoral Court found that the Independent Electoral Commission erred by not publishing BLF’s registration in the government gazette.
Black First Land First (BLF) leader Andile Mngxitama has welcomed the judgement by the Electoral Court that solidifies the party’s place on the ballot paper for the May 8th elections.
The court denied an attempt by the Freedom Front Plus (FF Plus) to have the BLF deregistered.
The court also found that the Electoral Commission had failed to publish BLF’s registration in the government gazette. This means that the FF Plus could only object to the BLF until the registration was gazetted.
The FF Plus’s attempt also fell outside the allocated time frame for objections to registered parties.
“It’s 3-0. We told them we are going to Parliament. They can’t stop us. We are on the ballot. We’ve been telling FF Plus this party of land thieves that there’s nothing they can do to stop us. Court says the IEC must publish the one segment of our application, but it does not mean anything. It’s got no consequences whatsoever in our status as a registered party,” says Mngxitama.
The FF Plus says BLF’s membership criteria – which is for blacks only – contravened the IEC Act and the Constitution.
Earlier this year, FF Plus filed papers with the Electoral Court arguing that the IEC erred in registering BLF.
But the IEC argued that the FF Plus failed to object to BLF’s application to register as a political party three years ago.
On the other side, the FF Plus is still hopeful that BLF will be disqualified from contesting the elections next month.
“The IEC can still find determine that the BLF vote won’t be counted even if they’re on the ballot paper.”
With just over a week until the polls BLF might have escaped FF-Plus’s effort to eliminate them.
