Barrier to entry: The IEC and constitutional court remain firm in their decision about proof of support and deposits required for small parties to be able to contest the elections. Photo: Darren Stewart/Getty Images
Thursday.
The Electoral Commission of South Africa — the body that runs our elections and which for some reason is still known as the IEC — has spoken.
So has the constitutional court, which on Monday booted out a challenge to the Electoral Amendment Act by Build One South Africa (Bosa) and the Rivonia Circle aimed at having criteria for participation in this year’s elections relaxed.
Both institutions have confirmed that there will be no last-ditch intervention to change the regulations promulgated in January this year to govern the party and candidate registration process ahead of the 29 May national and provincial elections.
As a result, the swarm of new parties and independents who want to contest the coming poll will have to collect between 11 000 and 15 000 signatures, depending on which provinces they stand in.
They will also have to cough up deposits to get their logos — or heads — on the ballot paper along with those of the parties already represented in parliament.
The new parties — and some of the smaller operations already sitting in the National Assembly and National Council of the Provinces — are less than pleased.
They are crying foul, saying this is a barrier to entry that rigs the process in favour of the governing party and the others who already have their members in Parliament, rather than a demonstration of organisational ability and seriousness of intent.
But from the stance adopted by the IEC leadership this week — and by that taken by the constitutional court — it is clear that the timetable is cast in stone and that the show must, and will, go on.
Under these conditions, the new parties — and those fearing they won’t make it back to the National Assembly after May — would be better served by getting out there and signing people up and getting deposits paid than by crying in their Corn Flakes.
The voters roll is now closed and parties have until 8 March to submit their candidates lists to the IEC.
The game is well and truly on.
Now, the one-man-and-a-TikTok-account operations that had planned to segue their way into parliament — and onto the public payroll — without leaving their living room will at least have to hustle the punters in real life.
They will also have to part with some ready cash to get a chance to contest the poll.
Reality is setting in and some among us are about to find out that social media influencing and electoral politics are two totally different sports.
The ballot papers we will be getting now on voting day will at least have a chance of resembling just that, rather than a multiple choice exam question — or a bar tab from the ANC manifesto launch afterparty at Cubana last Saturday.
The announcement by the IEC that the election timetable is cast in stone is also bad news for South Africa’s political family franchises.
Good luck to Duduzane Zuma with signing up 15 000 punters per province from Dubai — he can’t really ask the old man for help, can he — and with paying a deposit to the IEC with frozen bank accounts.
All the best with convincing the family — extended and otherwise — to give you their vote instead of casting it for you know who, or for the governing party for that matter.
Awkward silences at the Sunday dinner table await.
The new parties and the independents will have to make the numbers number, just like the governing party did at Moses Mabhida stadium last weekend, a massive show of strength.
The ANC numbered the numbers in the stadium, but not on their 2024 manifesto, which stayed very far away from setting any real delivery targets for the incoming administration.
Apart from references to creating job opportunities — as opposed to real jobs — Cyril Ramaphosa kept things general and light on promises.
It’s understandable: the ANC has apparently finally learned not to set itself targets it can’t meet, creating a rod for its own back and giving the opposition parties ammunition to use against it come election time.
There’s also the reality that, despite winning the battle of the stadiums, the ANC may not be coming back to governing the country in its present form.
Why bother with a whole lot of detail in plans for the next five years, when they may never see the light of day, let alone implementation?
After all, the shop may be under new — or at least shared — management when the dust settles at the end of May and new plans will have to be drafted, one way or another.
Why bother indeed?