WeeklySA_AdminFace-off: Electoral body wants matter to still be heard in court to determine if allegations vexatious…
By Franny Rabkin and Lehlohonolo Lehana
The Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) has asked the Electoral Court to refuse to accept the MK Party’s withdrawal of its court case to set aside the elections, saying the party made “serious allegations” about the credibility of the election.
After accusing the IEC of “deliberate vote-rigging”, the MK Party last week sent a notice to court withdrawing its case. On Friday the IEC wrote to court saying the notice of withdrawal was irregular and asked the court to set down the case for argument.
“It is an absolute imperative that the matter is ventilated publicly and a final decision be made by the Electoral Court, at the very least to confirm whether the allegations against the electoral commission were made vexatiously and without just cause,” said the IEC’s attorney Moeti Kanyane in a letter.
Kanyane said the MK Party had also not offered to pay for the wasted costs of the litigation, “which it was required to do”. In this case, a punitive costs order against the MK Party was warranted, he said.
The party was also obliged to get permission from the court to withdraw the case because the court had issued directions in it.
When the MK Party withdrew the case it sent a letter to the court saying it would be back again soon and the case was only being withdrawn “for now”. The party still believed the elections were not free and fair.
“The withdrawal is in no way an admission that our client does not have a compelling case for the orders it seeks. The contrary is true,” said the MK Party’s attorney, Barnabas Xulu in the letter.
They claimed they had evidence of election irregularities. “We have, however, advised our client there are procedural and technical issues that need to be complied with to present such evidence before the application can be adjudicated upon by the court.”
Xulu said the MK Party’s experts “continue to uncover further evidence” of irregularities. This was “so serious it would be reckless to risk the application being dismissed on the basis of the IEC’s technical objections”. The party’s experts needed time to prepare “comprehensive reports” involving a thorough assessment of the IEC results, he said.
After the MK Party filed its founding court papers, the IEC and the DA (which also entered the fray to oppose the application) filed answering papers. The IEC disputed the MK Party’s claims, including the evidence it proffered of voting irregularities. The IEC’s Sy Mamabolo said the MK Party’s claim that 9.3-million votes were unaccounted for was “patently false”. Then, when it was time for the MK Party to file replying court papers — to contest what the IEC and DA said in their answering papers — it did not file.
Instead, it asked the court to issue new directions to address what it said were “technical objections” by the IEC — expert reports and an expert affidavit that were supposed to accompany the MK Party’s court papers but did not and the failure to include the National Council of Provinces and the provincial legislatures as parties to the litigation.
Further directions were not forthcoming from the court. “In the absence of any directives regulating the further conduct of the matter … the MK Party has decided the matter should be withdrawn,” said Xulu.The IEC, meanwhile, hit back saying the MK Party’s latest attempt to overturn the election results was an abuse of the court processes. It has labelled the application a carbon copy of an earlier one dismissed by the Constitutional Court. Lack of evidence, misrepresentation of data and a disregard for correct procedure.
That is how the Electoral Commission described the MK Party’s application. Additionally, the party did not comply with Section 55 of the Electoral Act, which required appeals against election results to be filed within three days of their declaration.
The MKP submitted its appeal two weeks later without providing reasons for the delay. In an affidavit deposed by the IEC’s chief electoral officer, Sy Mamabolo, he said the MK Party had not produced a shred of evidence to support its voter rigging claims. Mamabolo further accused the party led by former President Jacob Zuma of trying to inflame the passions of the public.
He addressed the two-hour system failure of the IEC’s leaderboard on 31 May, saying the technical glitch did not compromise the election results. “Data capturing continued unaffected and no data was lost during this period. The functional system continued to operate unaffected.
“The results system also remained functional and uncompromised. There was only an interruption in the transmission of data to the leaderboard as a result of the flagging error in the reporting system.”
Mirror Briefs
LONG WALK FOR LEARNERS
There are about 15.4 million school-going children in South Africa and almost two-thirds of them have to walk to school every day, according to the Outlier website using data in the 2023 General Household Survey.
Walking to school is not necessarily a bad thing, but for many learners there are few alternatives.
There is little in the way of school busses available to learners and public transport is equally limited for large parts of the country. The many learners who have to walk long distances over difficult terrain also put their safety at risk.
In rural areas in South Africa, schools are often located far from learners’ homes and public transport is not always be accessible.
In their Basic Education Rights Handbook, Section27 writes: ‘Private transport, such as taxis, may be unavailable, unsafe or too expensive to use. In these cases, learners have no choice but to walk in order to receive an education, and often face serious challenges on their journey to and from school.’
Often these learners have to navigate difficult terrain, which leaves them vulnerable to harsh weather conditions and violence. – SANews
SUB-ZERO TEMPERATURES
The South African Weather Service (SAWS) has warned of a series of cold fronts bringing snow and sub-zero temperatures in several provinces at the weekend.
The first weather system is an intense cold front that is expected to affect the western and central parts of the country from Sunday, and the eastern parts from Monday.
Heavy rainfall is also expected over the western parts of the Western Cape, with possible flooding. Disruptive snowfall is expected over the southern and western high ground, accompanied by damaging winds over the interior as well as the coastline.
“While light snowfall may even extend as far as Prieska in the Northern Cape and Bloemfontein in the Free State, heavier and more disruptive snowfall of 15 to 30 cm that may lead to the closure of roads and mountain passes, as well as loss of vulnerable livestock, can be expected over the southern high-ground of the Northern Cape and the Western Cape.”
The cold front is expected to exit the country on Tuesday morning, when another cold front will approach the Western Cape. – Fullview
CITY POWER STAFF NABBED
City Power has nabbed more employees and a contractor for cable theft and vandalism after nine contracted guards appeared in court this week.
The employee was arrested at the head office of City Power in Booysens on Tuesday.
The 41-year-old man, who was working in the security department, is alleged to have stolen copper pipes from scrap metal dealers under the guise of returning them to City Power premises.
On Wednesday, an employee of one of City Power’s service providers responsible for maintenance was found in possession of copper metals.
The 30-year-old man was working in the Joburg CBD when he was caught trying to leave work with pieces of copper material.
The two join nine contracted guards linked with the power utility, who were arrested over the past weekend. Three more suspects were arrested in Booysens on Tuesday after being found digging and laying aluminium cable from a pole.
City Power CEO Tshifularo Mashava, has expressed concern over the involvement of the power utility’s employees in acts of theft and vandalism. – Lehlohonolo Lehana
KIDNAP SUSPECTS HELD
A total twelve businessmen and six students who had been kidnapped for ransom, have been rescued by a multidisciplinary team led by the South African Police Services anti -kidnapping task team in the last six months.
The latest kidnapping victim, a Portuguese businessman (49) who was snatched from his business premises in Florida, was rescued last week.
National police spokesperson, Brigadier Athlenda Mathe said, the businessman was rescued a week after he was snatched.
“The SAPS Anti-Kidnapping Task Team including other law enforcement agencies and private security have been working around the clock to find the businessman, safe and unharmed. The man was kidnapped from his business premises in Florida on June 24. On Monday evening, July 1, 2024, the team traced the victim to a home in Snake Park, Soweto, where he had been in captivity,” she said.
Mathe said one of the captors of the businessman was arrested the same evening in Turffontein in Johannesburg. From January 2024 to date, 49 kidnappers who had demanded ransom payment from families of victims have been arrested in Gauteng, the North West and Free State, police said. – Fullview
