ConCourt ruling forces IEC into late election reset

What a mess the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) finds itself in after the Constitutional Court (ConCourt) yesterday ruled in favour of the ANC after the party’s submission of candidate lists for next month’s local elections.

The ANC failed to click the “submit as final” button on the IEC’s candidate nomination system before the 28 August deadline in six municipalities, blaming technical glitches.

The IEC rejected the ANC’s candidate nominations for not completing the final submission process.

The ANC was ruled to have paid all the necessary requirements and had uploaded all required candidate information.

It then took the matter to the ConCourt after being rejected by the Electoral Court.

However, yesterday’s ruling means the IEC must now include 181 councillor candidates excluded from the ANC lists in all electoral processes.

With just three weeks out from the polls, the IEC this week said it had printed 66% of the 79 million ballot papers.

It will now have to destroy those papers where the ANC candidates do not appear and start printing new ones.

It was expected to be finished by Sunday, but now that process will move closer to the November elections.

IEC chair Mosotho Moepya said: “We welcome the clarity and the certainty this judgment has given to all of us. We now need to move forward.”

Perhaps the most relieved person was ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula, who broke down in tears and collapsed after the ruling.

In true Mbaks fashion, though, he recovered quickly to take a broad shot at the DA, warning “this movement will now have to sit down and discuss partners in the GNU, and that is the DA. Is there any need to maintain this relationship in the GNU? And that is the fundamental and principled question the ANC will ponder.”

This ruling will have far more consequences than just reprinting ballot papers. Watch this space…