20/08/2021
ACM confident ConCourt will postpone Elections
African Content Movement (ACM) is confident the Constitutional Court will postpone Local Government Elections to enable more citizens to register to vote, allow the country to vaccinate more people and allow political parties to democratically nominate candidates.
ACM will be contesting in the upcoming Local Government Elections in the Maluti-A-Phofoung Municipality, and the District of Thabo Mofutsanyane.
Today, the Constitutional Court is hearing oral arguments in a case brought by the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) to move October 27, 2020 Local Government Elections to early 2022. A case ACM supports.
We believe the Constitutional Court will recognize that for this elections, the IEC was forced to postpone voter registration weekends twice. This is truly historic.
The outcome of this Court’s judgment in the Constitutional Court application will have an acute and adverse effect on the manner which ACM will proceed with its campaigning activities, how election candidates are nominated and endorsed by communities they seek to represents.
Whilst ACM is in full support of the relief sought by the Commission and findings of the Moseneke report, we urge the body to extend deadline for candidate nominations until judgment is issued. We have not been able to interact with communities. We will not impose candidates on our communities. We want the court to grant further opportunity to democratically nominate candidates.
Because of strict Coronavirus national lockdown levels, gatherings have been prohibited for a longer time making it impossible for in-person community interactions. Currently, only a hundred people are allowed to gather. We believe it would be unfair in a ward of 7000 eligible voters, and only hundred are allowed to choose a candidate.
Lack of enough time to consult on our elections programme will compromise our internal candidate election processes. In a given ward, our members must be able to elect candidates and allow communities to endorse or make a new selection altogether.
The IEC candidate nomination deadline for parties is on Monday 23 August 2021, we believe this deadline is impossible to meet. We have already engaged the IEC on this matter.
It goes without saying that this level of in-person interaction is crucial, more so in light of the fact that citizens in remote rural areas do not ordinarily have access to connectivity and media generally. Our people rely heavily on community announcements. The Movement has a significant number of people living with disabilities, their needs must be catered.
Postponing October 27 elections will truly offer citizens an opportunity to freely and fairly elect their representatives. We hope that by February 2022, the country would have vaccinated more voters. The postponement will also give the IEC an opportunity to open the voters roll to allow more rural communities without ICTs to register to vote.
As soon as the court makes a decision, and lockdown restrictions relaxed, ACM President Hlaudi Motsoeneng will be engaging party membership and communities in various Maluti-A-Phofung Wards.
We urge our communities to vote for ACM in the upcoming Local Government Elections.
In our interactions, ACM will adhere to COVID-19 protocols: Wear a mask, wash hands regularly and social distance.
Issued by ACM
Enquiries
Tumelo Thulo
ACM Spokesperson
Mobile: 073 210 0923
The Future Is In Your Hands!
Issued by the African Content Movement.
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