Durban - The African National Congress in KwaZulu-Natal on Wednesday voiced its support for the embattled National Freedom Party’s (NFP’s) bid to exhaust all legal avenues to try to get back into the voting ring.
“The ANC is a party that believes in political plurality, and the absence of the NFP from the upcoming elections will make the province poorer in terms of electoral choices presented to the voters. As the ANC we therefore support the NFP’s decision to exhaust all legal avenues,” said provincial secretary Super Zuma on Wednesday.
The Electoral Commission of SA (IEC) barred the NFP from taking part in the August 3 local government elections because it failed to pay its registration fee on time.
This was first blamed on an administration error made by the party’s treasurer, but since then, NFP president Zanele KwaMagwaza-Msibi and other leaders have said that a “third force” has been trying to destroy the party from within using bribes.
The party took the matter to the electoral court, but it was dismissed last week.
It will now be taking its disqualification to the Constitutional Court.
NFP acting national chairman Bheki Gumbi said on Wednesday that the party’s national executive committee had decided to approach the highest court in the land, and that legal papers would be filed by Friday.
“We will be doing so because of our strong belief that the NFP’s exclusion from the elections would render the elections unfair, because over 1.2 million members and supporters of the National Freedom Party would not be able to exercise their constitutional right to vote,” said Gumbi.
He said the party believed that the Constitutional Court would come to a different conclusion from the electoral court because of the public interest in the matter.
“We would persuade the ConCourt to take into account that it’s not the NFP that failed to comply with the IEC processes but it was a few individuals whom we had entrusted with the responsibility of dealing with this matter. Our view is that the NFP remains a big player in the political arena of our country and our exclusion will symbolise a dark day in South Africa.”
He called on NFP members to remain calm, saying the party would start its consultation drive on Saturday where “we would go and meet our members and explain to them the whole situation and how we can best face it”.
On Tuesday, 28 NFP members were arrested after blocking the road on the turn-off to Ulundi, near Melmoth, since 1am. Rubber bullets were used to disperse the protesters.
NFP national spokesman Jospeh Ngema told ANA on Wednesday that the party had been lobbying all other political parties to support their Constitutional Court bid. He said all parties, with the exception of the Inkatha Freedom Party, had thrown their weight behind the NFP’s court bid.
African News Agency