CONTROVERSIAL former SABC chief operations officer Hlaudi Motsoeneng and his African Content Movement (ACM) want the local government elections to be postponed as Covid-19 has made it impossible for small parties to fund-raise and campaign.
The ACM has entered the fray and asked to intervene in the Electoral Commission of SA’s (IEC’s) Constitutional Court application to have the municipal polls scheduled for October 27 shelved until February next year.
In an affidavit filed by Motsoeneng at the apex court, the ACM, which states that it wants to develop “strong, self-conscious individuals actively participating in the country’s resources and economy”, wants to provide the Constitutional Court with an understanding of the impact of the relief the IEC seeks on citizens living in rural areas, disabled persons and the exercise of the political party rights of minority political parties.
Motsoeneng said the ACM’s objectives are to create a generation of citizens with sustainable knowledge, education, entrepreneurship skills, production capacity, problem-solving aptitude and who are independent.
According to the ACM, it fully supports the relief sought by the commission.
The party, which contested the 2019 national and provincial elections, complained that in-person interactions that are usually held in the run-up to the municipal polls have not been possible due to Covid-19.
”It goes without saying that this level of in-person interaction is crucial, more so in light of the fact that citizens in rural areas do not ordinarily have access to social media,” Motsoeneng said.
He said political parties cannot recruit and select their representatives as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.
”Due to the difference between minority political parties and mainstream parties in terms of membership, donations received and the number of candidates in minority political parties are able to produce in elections, should the elections proceed in October 2021, the inevitable result will be mainstream parties being voted into power, but only represent the needs of de facto citizens and not those in rural and marginalised areas,” reads Motsoeneng’s affidavit.
He said the mainstream parties’ reliance on large sums of campaign money may shut out potential minority party candidates from entering the nomination race.
”If a minority political party, despite its policy goals and interests, is not able to interact with members of the community and mobilise voters simply due to a lack of communication and resources due to the restrictions imposed by Covid-19, the electoral threshold inevitably becomes too high for a minority party to cross it only with minority votes,” Motsoeneng added.
He said it was not difficult to conclude that minority parties would essentially be excluded from politics.
Political Bureau