Fikile Mbalula rejects claims ANC wants special treatment from IEC

ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula has maintained that the party is not seeking preferential treatment from the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) over its failure to submit 181 councillor candidates before the submission deadline.

Speaking during a briefing on Tuesday, Mbalula said the ANC’s only request was for the IEC to process candidate information that the party claimed had been submitted on time but was subsequently removed from the commission’s system.

“We asked for one thing. We asked the commission to process the candidate information that its own system had received and stored before the deadline. We asked to add no name. We asked to change no list. We asked for no late nomination and no extension of any deadline. And we asked that whatever the commission did, it do for every one of the forty-five affected parties on identical terms,” he said.

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Candidates that weren’t submitted in time by the ANC

The ANC failed to submit 181 candidates in the Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal and Free State, including 51 candidates in Mangaung, a traditional ANC stronghold.

In the Eastern Cape, Ngquza Hill, Port St Johns, Walter Sisulu are affected while uMshwathi in KwaZulu-Natal and Mangaung in the Free State also did not submit all their candidates.

Since then, opposition political parties have been up in arms, warning against the re-opening of the process, which has been deemed as the ANC getting special treatment.

As reported by Sunday World this weekend, the bungling of the candidate lists has drawn criticism from senior party leaders, including ANC national executive committee member Mondli Gungubele, who described the debacle as an embarrassment on social media.

ANC blames glitch

Mbalula said the ANC was also not asking the IEC to make an exception for the party, arguing that the same principle should apply to the other 45 political parties that experienced the same technical glitch.

“We ask that whatever the commission did, it did for every one of the 45 affected parties, on identical terms. On 4th September, the commission refused. It is entitled to its view, and it has given it. I will not characterise this letter beyond that,” he said.

Mbalula also allayed fears that some of the party’s most prominent leaders vying to be councillors will be excluded because of the glitch. He explained that it is possible to make changes after the elections, especially if those affected are mayoral candidates.

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ANC’s last-ditch court bid

The ANC has now turned to the Electoral Court in a last-ditch attempt to have its missing candidates loaded ahead of the November 4 local government elections.

Mbalula insisted that the party’s decision to approach the court was not intended to undermine or disparage the IEC but was being pursued in the interests of democracy.

“On the same day, 4th September, the ANC filed an application in the Electoral Court in Johannesburg under Section 20 of the Electoral Commission Act for leave to appeal and to appeal against the commission’s decision.

“The application asks the court to set the commission’s decision aside, to declare that the movement’s lists in the six councils were submitted timeously and validly under Sections 14 and 17 of the Municipal Electoral Act, and to direct the commission to treat them as submitted for the election of 4th November,” Mbalula said.

 

Queenin Masuabi