Johannesburg – The DA is preparing to go to court should former deputy chief justice Dikgang Moseneke recommend that the forthcoming local government elections be postponed due to the surge in Covid-19 infections.
DA federal council chairperson Helen Zille has laid bare the official opposition’s intentions in a letter – dated 10 June – to provincial leaders, chairpersons, directors and candidates of the organisation.
Sunday World reported that the party was divided over when to release a list of its candidates for the local polls.
Fear has gripped the party that those who do not make the cut will jump ship and join other parties including the Patriotic Alliance and Action SA, which is led by former DA senior leader and erstwhile Johannesburg mayor Herman Mashaba.
Gauteng DA is among the party’s provincial structures that want the list to be immediately released, and the party to deal with the consequences of those who leave because they were not selected.
Have you read: U-turn in Mkhize Digital Vibes tender scandal
The Northern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal were of the view that the release of the letter would have a negative impact on the party’s campaign towards October 27.
On Wednesday, the Independent Electoral Commission said it was “technically” ready to deliver the local elections on October 27, even under the current conditions of the deadly Covid-19 global pandemic.
The commission recently appointed Moseneke to conduct an independent review of what would constitute “free and fair elections” under Covid-19 conditions, following calls for the polls to be postponed.
Zille said they had no idea what Moseneke, who was expected to release his report at the end of July, would at this stage recommend, nor the legal status of the recommendation. “However, if it recommends postponing the election, we will challenge this legally because we believe it would set a devastating precedent if the ANC found a mechanism to postpone elections,” she said.
Also read: ANC’s Lekganyane allegedly assaulted and grabbed private parts of fellow party member
“At this stage, the only thing we can say for certain is that the next few months are likely to be challenging in terms of having to fight for the country’s right to go to the polls on the duly determined date, despite the challenges of the Covid pandemic,” she said.
Zille said the party’s federal executive, which met last Friday, had resolved that it would be unwise to drive an election campaign too far and too early, adding this could make the party unnecessarily vulnerable to its opponent.
“If we release lists now, it will not only put us too far out on a limb but will also distract our attention,” she said. Meanwhile, the list process is once again causing consternation between the ANC and its alliance partners, the SACP and Cosatu.
ANC deputy secretary-general Jessie Duarte has written to SACP general-secretary Blade Nzimande and Cosatu’s Bheki Ntshalintshali, asking them to compile a list of places where their members were excluded from the selection process.
“We request that the alliance partners highlight areas in which members of the alliance have been excluded in the candidate selection process of the ANC. Where possible the alliance partners must [provide] the province, region, sub-region, and branch which challenges of exclusion have been experienced,” she said in a letter on Friday.
Also read: Friends & Foes: Gupta extradition to give SA closure
Follow @SundayWorldZA on Twitter and @sundayworldza on Instagram, or like our Facebook Page, Sunday World, by clicking here for the latest breaking news in South Africa. To Subscribe to Sunday World, click here.
Sunday World
