Johannesburg – With the Independent Electoral Commission of SA (IEC) admitting that it did not have addresses of some of the millions of registered voters, the Constitutional Court on Monday inquired from the parties before it whether they could find a common ground and resolve the voters’ roll impasse.
Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng asked Andre Bosman, for the independent candidates, if it was possible for the parties in the case to find a way to “reach out to each other” and find a common ground.
“Is it a reasonable proposal to make to the parties, that between now and the production of the judgement, if we have to get to that point, that parties try to reach out to one another and find what you call reasonable terms that could then be furnished to the court to consider?” asked Mogoeng.
“Such terms would be designed to ensure that the elections happen, but subject to an effort being made to comply with legal requirements as they have not been complied with..within the time available to them [IEC] to do the little bit they can do.”
Bosman said there was no reason not to consider other options, and that the IEC could reach out to registered voters by advertising through mass media such as SMS, radio and TV.
“Yes Bosman, but I am asking if the parties can make an effort to find each other in the interim, is there a rule for that or have you explored all avenues and cannot solve this problem?” Mogoeng asked Bosman.
“We endeavour to do so, and it will be in the interests of those concerned in this matter to do so,” said Bosman.
Anton Katz SC, for the Democratic Alliance (DA), told the court that by-elections differed from general elections as they were subjected to “certain kind of difficulties” that Tlokwe experienced.
“The difficulty in the general elections, which is when all the wards vote in the same time, is that I can go to a particular ward and vote, my finger would be inked and therefore I wont be able to go vote in another ward…whether I voted in the wrong ward or not, I would exercise my right to vote,” said Katz.
In the by-elections, that difficulty does not arise because there is only one ward that is holding an election, so one would arrive at a ward, and vote even though they were not entitled to vote in that ward, said Katz.
He said the DA was concerned with the voters’ roll which had no addresses, as people could be easily be bused into a ward to vote in a by-election.
The independent candidates, along with the DA and The Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP), opposed the IEC’s urgent application, and argued that the commission had a legal obligation to provide a voter’s roll with addresses.
In support of the IEC application was the Minister of Cooperative Governance (Cogta), the National House of Traditional Leaders and the African National congress (ANC).
Regarding the exploration of the possibility of arriving at an order to ensure that the elections take place as suggested by Mogoeng, Katz said there was a committee within the IEC consisting of representatives of political parties, which undertook to do the same thing.
“As I understood it, there has been some sort of stalemate regarding that, there was an impasse. Hence we suggest that the IEC come up with an order and whoever wants to respond to it to do so in a few days, depending on this court’s requirement,” said Katz.
Mogoeng said: “You are not compelled to take what I believe, but the option of finding each is worth pursuing by everyone.”
The drawn-out case is back in the highest court in the land following the aftermath of an Electoral Court ruling in February, which further sent the disputed Tlokwe by-elections into disarray. Six independent candidates lodged an urgent interdict with the Electoral Court, arguing that the IEC failed to provide them with a voter’s roll complete with addresses for the Tlokwe by-elections.
The Electoral Court ruled on the eve of the by-elections in February, instructing the IEC to postpone the Tlokwe elections by six weeks and furnish the parties with a voter’s roll complete with voters’ addresses. The independent candidates maintained that the IEC failed to comply with an earlier Constitutional Court ruling in November 2015, in which the Tlokwe by-election results held in 2013, were set aside.
The commission, which is racing against time as the August 3 date set for the 2016 local government elections approaches, is seeking direct access to the court should the leave to appeal fail. Through the direct access, the IEC requests the court to “furnish a just and equitable remedy” that exonerates it from obtaining addresses of all registered voters for this year’s elections and the 2019 national and provincial elections.
The parties against the IEC’s case argued that the application had no merit and should be dismissed with costs. Judgment was reserved.
African News Agency