Staff reporter
Bloemfontein – The Electoral Court has dismissed the African National Congress (ANC)’s appeal against the Independent Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) for missing the deadline to submit candidates’ lists to contest six municipalities in the November polls.
This follows our breaking story that Mangaung will have an Executive Mayor from other parties than ANC.
The order paves the way for the IEC to release candidates’ lists for all municipalities on Wednesday for public scrutiny before final certificates are issued.
The court indicated during the hearing yesterday that it would provide reasons for its judgment at a later stage.
The ANC argued that it was not seeking preferential treatment for the 181 nominees whose information it had submitted to the IEC through its online system, but for which it failed to press the final ‘submit’ button by the deadline.
It said by having captured their details, the IEC should accept that they intended to contest the elections in municipalities in KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape, but also the Mangaung metro.
However, the court has not found in the ANC’s favour and dismissed the appeal.
In an order handed down by a full bench, the court condoned the Democratic Alliance (DA)’s intervention in the case but not a similar application made by the African Transformation Movement (ATM) due to the late submission of its papers.
Judge Lebogang Modiba noted the ramifications of this case.
“It appears that there are important principles that are emerging from this matter that merits a considered judgment.”
The ANC said while it respects the judicial process, it will now exercise legal rights to pursue the appropriate appeal process.
The headline picture shows how a ballot paper will look like without ANC candidates in Mangaung.
Next its back to factory settings, regular prograding with COGTA and Human Settlements.
This is a developing story.
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