FORMER Johannesburg mayor Herman Mashaba’s ActionSA is heading to court to challenge the Electoral Commission of SA’s (IEC) decision not to include the party’s name in the ballot paper for the local government elections.
ActionSA announced on Monday that the IEC had failed to meet its 10am deadline to remedy the situation.
”ActionSA confirms that the 10am deadline for the IEC to remedy the absence of ActionSA’s name from the ballot papers came and went without a response from the commission,“ the party said.
“As such, and as per our communication to the commission, ActionSA will now presume the commission has no intention to remedy the matter.”
ActionSA said it concluded a meeting with its legal team, who were bewildered by the IEC’s refusal to remedy the issue and affirmed its position that there was no legal basis for the commission to refuse the request.
The party said its legal team was confident that the courts would share that perspective.
”The perspective is that, by refusing to remedy this issue, the IEC is in breach of its overarching responsibilities to ensure free and fair elections – a critical component of which is ensuring voters are able to identify their political parties in various ways that include the party logo, party name, acronym and party leaders,” ActionSA said.
The party also expressed its concerns about the IEC’s approach and what it said seems like an effort to validate a decision to not assist in remedying the matter, which directly related to voters being able to locate their political party of choice.
ActionSA’s legal team has been asked to urgently draft papers. The party is due to hold a media conference on Wednesday on the matter.