Durban - The National Freedom Party said on Friday it would continue the fight to be allowed to contest the upcoming local government election from which it was disqualified after failing to pay the necessary deposit.
In a statement released on Friday, the party’s acting national chairman Bheki Gumbi said: “The fight is still on. We will neither give up nor surrender. This battle continues until the last hour of the election day.”
Gumbi’s announcement follows an announcement by the Electoral Court that it would hear the party’s latest appeal to contest the elections on July 29.
The party was disqualified from contesting the election after its treasurer Xolani Ndlovu failed to pay the party’s deposit by the June 2 deadline.
The party has already been to the Electoral Court once before where its bid to contest the election was refused.
The NFP has since said that it had new evidence that it believed would entitle it to contest the election, despite failing to meet the June deadline. However, the Electoral Commission disagreed with the party.
It is not clear why the party failed to pay the deposit, with some media reports claiming that Ndlovu failed to read the deadline properly while others claim that the NFP’s cheque bounced because there were insufficient funds in the party’s bank account.
“As the leadership of the NFP, we still maintain and believe that we will contest the August 3 elections. It is for this reason we make a plea to our members to exercise restraint and not do anything that might jeopardise our chances. Our legal team has prepared well and with the new evidence that we will present in court, we strongly believe that we will participate and fiercely contest the elections,” said Gumbi.
African News Agency