Political parties that were excluded from the IEC candidate councillor list have been given a lifeline after the commission announced that, following the ANC's victory in the Constitutional Court, the parties will also be included.
The Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) on Friday said the November 4 local government election date remains on track, despite a Constitutional Court ruling requiring it to add excluded councillor candidates to the ballot.
The ANC had approached the apex court after the IEC excluded 181 of the party's candidates in several municipalities, including four in the Eastern Cape.
The IEC has previously rejected the ANC’s argument that its failure to press the final submission button should not invalidate its candidate lists, insisting that the party failed to comply with the requirements for the submission of candidates in some municipalities.
Delivering the order on Thursday morning, Justice Rammaka Mathopo said the Constitutional Court had, by majority decision, overturned an Electoral Court ruling in favour of the IEC.
Briefing the media on Friday, IEC chair Mosotho Moepya said: "The commission holds constitutional obligations to ensure that all elections it administers meet the high watermark for freeness and fairness.
"Part of that constitutional duty is even-handedness in the treatment of electoral contestants.
"The commission recognises that 32 other similar-situated parties intended to contest against the ANC. These 32 other parties intended to contest in 121 municipalities across the country. Their intended participation involved all three ballot types: metro, local, and district.
"As with the ANC, these parties had nominated compliant candidates and paid election deposits but had not submitted their final candidate lists.
"Consistent with the constitutional imperative for free and fair elections, as well as the importance of upholding the inherent principle of parity of treatment, the commission has resolved that the 32 similarly situated parties must be deemed to have lawfully submitted their candidates," Moepya said.
He said the 32 parties had been included after compliance verifications were performed, while 13 other parties were found to have not met the requirements for lawful submission of candidates, even after extending the effect of the Constitutional Court order.
"The missed requirements in relation to these 13 parties include the payment of the election deposits and the voters’ roll registration exception to be registered in the municipality of contestation.
Moepya said the commission will contact all 32 political parties to confirm whether they still intend to participate in the November 4 elections.
"The application of the Constitutional Court order to all similar situated parties to the ANC affect 107 municipalities. Thirty-three million ballots will have to be produced to accommodate the extension of the judicial injunction.
"Of this new total requirement, 27-million ballots had already been printed. However, 6.6-million ballots of that total requirement had not been printed.
"This affects the six municipalities whose ballots were affected by the appeal of the ANC that was before the Constitutional Court," he said.
The commission held back from commencing with printing of the ballots until the Constitutional Court had made a ruling on the matter, with Moepya saying no costs were incurred in relation to ballots affecting these six municipalities.
"At the moment, the commission does not anticipate that these developments will affect the election date. However, our logistical preparations have been significantly affected.
"The logistical operations will now have to be conducted within a very truncated period.
"Once again, the commission reaffirms its commitment to upholding the rule of law, including respecting the decisions of the courts.
"Furthermore, the commission remains resolute that political parties are treated fairly and consistently in the administration of the electoral process."