Earlier this month the IEC, in accordance with scheduling protocols, closed the voter roll after the government set October 27 as the date the nation will go to the polls. (Luis Tato/AFP)
Nearly 50 000 South Africans have used the Electoral Commission of South Africa’s (IEC) new online voter registration facility. But less than half of that number will count as new registrants this year if the constitutional court does not grant a request to defer local government elections to next February.
Earlier this month the IEC, in accordance with scheduling protocols, closed the voter roll after the government set October 27 as the date the nation will go to the polls. This came mere weeks after the electoral body had launched its new online facility — an attempt to offer greater accessibility as well as to entice younger potential voters.
At the time the commission said it had 17 964 successful online registrations, completing a final roll of 25.7-million registered voters. Its hope is that a deferred election date will broaden the effectiveness of the system.
As things stand it is still open for South Africans to log in and amend their details for future elections.
According to data supplied to the Mail & Guardian by the IEC, 48 428 users had used the platform between mid-July and the week ending 13 August.
There is a youthful bent, with 17 225 being in the 20 to 29 age group and 10 565 aged 30 to 39. Gauteng is unsurprisingly dominant, with more than double the users of any other province. Notably there were more than 4 000 more potential women voters than men.
“Find my voting station”, another online facility, has been used more than 36 000 times since June.
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Doubt still shrouds the status of this year’s polls.
South Africa is constitutionally mandated to schedule a date within 90 days after five years have lapsed after the previous elections. But with the country battling the Covid-19 pandemic, debate has raged over whether it is possible to proceed with voting that is free and fair in October.
In July, the IEC announced that it would look into postpone the elections based on the findings by an inquiry led by former deputy chief justice Dikgang Moseneke. In his report, Moseneke concluded that it was “not reasonably possible or likely that the local government elections scheduled for the month of October 2021 will be held in a free and fair manner, as required by the peremptory provisions of the Constitution and related legislation”.
“We find that the scheduled elections are likely to be free and fair if they were to be held not later than the end of February 2022,” the report added.
Voter registration weekend, scheduled for 31 July and 1 August, was subsequently postponed.
On August 3, the cooperative governance and traditional affairs (Cogta) minister, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, proclaimed 27 October as the date for elections — forcing the IEC to publish its timetable. She said the proclamation was a necessary step for the IEC because it required a concrete date to take to the constitutional court.
“If the concourt says it is not agreeing to the postponement, I don’t think we have another recourse,” she said. “Because nobody has the powers — there’s no legislation that gives the government, or Cogta or the IEC to postpone the elections,” she said.
The IEC has now formally asked the concourt to defer the elections, but until a decision is reached it will continue to prepare for 27 October.
The official opposition Democratic Alliance has said it will approach the ConCourt and ask it to deny the request, warning that a postponement will leave the country in a constitutional crisis.
“It is our submission that none of the IEC’s reasons for seeking a postponement of the election pass muster and hold water,” said DA federal chairperson Helen Zille.
“In fact, if the constitutional court were to help either suspend or amend the constitution, it would create a fundamental constitutional crisis — because the constitutional court would put itself above the Constitution and set a precedent that in future could lead to a small number of people in the ConCourt unilaterally amending the Constitution as and when they see fit.”
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