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Con Court rules in favour of ANC on candidates list · Drive with John Perlman

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: You're with John Perlman on 702. 702 Drive. Let's focus
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: then on that Concord decision in favor of the African
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: National Congress. 181 people who thought they were in the
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: running to be ward or proportional representation. Councillors then found
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: that they weren't going to be on the ballot at all.
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: Now it's all turned around. They will be on the
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  Speaker 1: ballot whether they get elected or not remains to be seen. Now,
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  Speaker 1: there are quite a few things that arrived for the IEC.
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  Speaker 1: We did hope to Have them on the show. They're
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  Speaker 1: not commenting today. But there was this statement put out
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  Speaker 1: by the IEC CEO, Sai Mamabolo. Let's take a listen
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  Speaker 1: to that and then we'll bring in a guest.
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  Speaker 2: Well, the Electoral Commission has noted the order of the
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  Speaker 2: Constitutional Court relating to the acceptance of the candidates of
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  Speaker 2: the African National Congress in five municipalities. we are looking
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  Speaker 2: at the judgment. Of course, the intention of the commission
• 1:02
  Speaker 2: is to implement fully the orders of the constitutional court.
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  Speaker 2: We recognize the important role played by that court as
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  Speaker 2: a court of final instance on matters pertaining to the
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  Speaker 2: constitution of our republic. We will look at the analysis
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  Speaker 2: of the orders to make an assessment as to what
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  Speaker 2: implications they have in relation to similar situated political parties.
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  Speaker 2: But this, we believe, would not fundamentally encroach on the
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  Speaker 2: date of the elections, which is the 4th of November,
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  Speaker 2: unless of course, circumstances change. But otherwise, we are preparing
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  Speaker 2: on the basis of the court order and integrating it
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  Speaker 2: into our operational framework.
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  Speaker 1: So quite a bit to actually weigh up and understand
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  Speaker 1: there from Sai Mamabolo. Let's bring in then elections analyst
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  Speaker 1: Wayne Sussman. Wayne, good afternoon and welcome to the show.
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  Speaker 1: The implications of this for the IEC, I mean, I
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  Speaker 1: would have assumed if the contested areas of election were
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  Speaker 1: limited to five places, Port St. John's was one, Mangaung
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  Speaker 1: was another, just by way of example. Surely we should
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  Speaker 1: assume that with this matter still outstanding, practical arrangements like
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  Speaker 1: the printing of ballot papers for those areas would have
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  Speaker 1: been held back until they had certainty, or I'm presuming
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  Speaker 1: too much.
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  Speaker 3: Thank you, John. I agree with you. I don't think
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  Speaker 3: it's going to be a major logistical challenge for the
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  Speaker 3: IEC in this matter. I think they probably did include
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  Speaker 3: that in their planning. and they will be able to
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  Speaker 3: get those ballots amended and printed in good time. It
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  Speaker 3: becomes slightly more complicated in Nguza Hill and Ports and Johns,
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  Speaker 3: as they're going to have to also produce, print out
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  Speaker 3: ward ballots there. Because if you remember, the other four municipalities,
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  Speaker 3: the ANC are only missing, their name was not on
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  Speaker 3: the proportional list. So in those two municipalities, it's a
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  Speaker 3: more onerous task, but I believe the IEC will be
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  Speaker 3: able to get those battered papers done in time.
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  Speaker 1: Do you have a sense of what it is that
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  Speaker 1: the Constitutional Court pronounced on? I know I'm asking you
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  Speaker 1: to do that in the absence of the full judgment,
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  Speaker 1: which will be read with huge eagerness, I'm sure, once
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  Speaker 1: it is actually released. But were they judging IEC procedures
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  Speaker 1: that in the end they found were wanting and flawed,
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  Speaker 1: or were they making a larger constitutional point?
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  Speaker 3: John, it's not clear at this stage, but historical precedence
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  Speaker 3: of the Labour Party, Joseph Matoonga's Labour Party in 2024,
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  Speaker 3: was that they weren't allowed to retroactively submit their candidate lists.
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  Speaker 3: The Democratic Alliance, there's a case in a relatively safe
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  Speaker 3: ward in the city of Cape Town in a by-election
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  Speaker 3: in 2022 or 2023. They weren't able to retroactively submit
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  Speaker 3: their candidate list. And of course, the National Freedom Party
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  Speaker 3: in KZN in 2016. So this was a surprise to me,
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  Speaker 3: but maybe... I mean, again, let's focus on Nguza Hill
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  Speaker 3: and Ports and Johns. These are two municipalities where the
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  Speaker 3: ANC was on track to win 75% to 80% of
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  Speaker 3: the vote. That's what I've always said. It's one thing
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  Speaker 3: having the frustration of the ANC for not abiding and
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  Speaker 3: submitting their lists on time. But I had a lot
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  Speaker 3: of empathy for the ANC activists and supporters in these
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  Speaker 3: areas because these are overwhelmingly large ANC strongholds. And now
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  Speaker 3: the voters in those particular municipalities have the chance to
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  Speaker 3: go and vote for the ANC.
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  Speaker 1: In terms of momentum, I mean, I would have thought
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  Speaker 1: this is not going to influence the way in which
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  Speaker 1: people cast their votes because they've made up their mind
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  Speaker 1: based on who they feel has delivered, where they've had
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  Speaker 1: power and who might deliver in areas where they're asking
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  Speaker 1: to to be given a chance, but certainly the ANC
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  Speaker 1: in terms of approaching these elections with something of a
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  Speaker 1: unified approach and unity of purpose, this must give them
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  Speaker 1: some sort of boost, I would have thought, because this
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  Speaker 1: issue and the failures associated with the candidate submission have
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  Speaker 1: been very divisive and I would have thought quite innovating.
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  Speaker 2: Definitely.
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  Speaker 3: First of all, on a practical level, I know we're
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  Speaker 3: focusing on the 181 candidates whose names can now be
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  Speaker 3: added on the list, but I did some calculations. This
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  Speaker 3: now means that between 98 and 105 councillors will be
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  Speaker 3: in ANC colours after the elections. I hope I make
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  Speaker 3: myself clear there that I think of those 181 positions available,
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  Speaker 3: the ANC is going to fill 98 to 105 of them.
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  Speaker 3: We take the Eastern Cape, John, and you and I
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  Speaker 3: know it's an ANC stronghold. Because of the problems in
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  Speaker 3: Ports and Johns, Nuzai Hill, Sundance River Valley and Waltz
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  Speaker 3: of Susulu, the ANC, before the election even began, was
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  Speaker 3: likely to lose at least 9%. That's a significant number
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  Speaker 3: of its councillors in the Eastern Cape. So just today,
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  Speaker 3: in the Eastern Cape, in Mangowong, the morale must be lifted.
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  Speaker 3: I was in the concourt when the decision was made,
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  Speaker 3: when the ruling was handed down. I was there to
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  Speaker 3: listen to Fakir and Barula speak. And you could hear
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  Speaker 3: the emotion in his voice. And I agree with you.
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  Speaker 3: The ANC will hope that this can galvanize them, that
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  Speaker 3: this can turn their campaign around and that they'll say, look,
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  Speaker 3: we've cleared up this debacle and now let's unify and
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  Speaker 3: focus on the next three weeks.
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  Speaker 1: Thanks so much. Elections analyst Wayne Sussman. Thoughts on the
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  Speaker 1: Concord judgment today. 27 minutes past five.