Constitutional Court: IEC to argue for election postponement

The Constitutional Court is expected to hear an application by the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC), seeking to have the local government elections postponed.

The apex court has already allowed several parties to intervene in the matter, including the Democratic Alliance (DA), African National Congress (ANC), Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) and One SA Movement.

Former deputy chief justice Dikgang Moseneke released a report which proposes that the municipal elections be held no later than February in 2022, suggesting  it would not be possible to hold free and fair elections in the wake of COVID-19. They were scheduled to take place in 27 October.

IEC wants local elections postponed

As far as the law is concerned, that date still stands, until the court agrees to a postponement. The IEC’s chairperson Glen Mashinini has agreed that the application is unprecedented.

“This court application is an extraordinary one and presumably unprecedented. The issues which are core to the application have a bearing on the political rights of citizens as well as the right to life, bodily and psychological integrity, and access to health. The application will undoubtedly offer the constitutional court another opportunity to contribute to the evolving jurisprudence of our constitutional order”

The IEC’s chairperson Glen Mashinini

The Council for the Advancement of the South African Constitution (Casac) has also entered the fray, submitting court papers as amicus curiae (friend of the court), in the IEC’s application. Casac argues that granting the postponement would have disastrous constitutional implications.

“If it is changed, as the IEC invites this court to do, this court would undermine the very solemn pact in an unlawful manner. As pragmatic (or cynical) as the application appears to be, the warning Casac sounds is that if this court were to grant it today to the IEC, tomorrow the impossibility doctrine will be invoked to alter another provision of the Constitution to avoid another difficult obligation that it imposes on another organ of state,” Casac argues in court papers.