- Julius Malema has recommended before the IEC inquiry that the local government elections be postponed to April next year.
- Malema said continuing with the elections would be risking the lives of voters.
- The red berets said if the commission decided to proceed with the elections, voters would not comply with the lockdown regulations.
EFF leader Julius Malema wants local government elections postponed to April 2021, saying voting during a pandemic and in a lockdown would not be a free and fair process.
He argued that the lockdown was meant to deal with political descent and stifle political engagement and mobilisation in the country.
The EFF president was making his oral submissions before former deputy chief justice Dikgang Moseneke's inquiry into free and fair elections during Covid-19 on Friday.
Malema said:
Malema once again reiterated the party’s call by recommending before the inquiry that the 2021 local government elections be postponed to April 2022.
He said the postponement period would give the government sufficient time to vaccinate the population, to ensure that there can be free movement of people, to allow for political parties to campaign freely, and to allow voters to go to voting booths without the risks of contracting the virus.
“We ask that the elections be postponed to April because by end of October there be some sense of clarity in terms of vaccination in terms of the behavioral patterns of the pandemic and even then if the situation is not what we expected we can still postpone until we are all guaranteed that it is safe,” Malema said.
The party said if the electoral commission decided to proceed with elections, voters would not comply with the lockdown regulations.
Malema said political power was their life and that they had to be in power to remain relevant to serve the people.
“So, anything that says proceed (means) you are now asking us to defy the lockdown. Because we are not going to have to choose between proceeding under certain conditions which will not be favorable. Because the space must be open and be level field, fair and free for everyone,” he said.
The red berets said calling on people to go vote under the Covid-19 wave was putting the lives of many voters in danger.
The party’s leader said there was a threat to life and compared the matter to a “war-like situation”.
“The reason why they evoking this disaster management act is because we are in a difficult situation now. And the same logic we’ve applied during the war is the same logic that applies now.
"The commander in chief of the Republic of South Africa when he unleashed soldiers during the first lockdown, it was clear that we are in a war situation that required the military to intervene. And therefore, we can’t say when the lives of our people are under threat because we are in a situation of war say no five years is here it doesn’t matter what happens. We must still comply even when the right to life is threatened.”
The party told the commission that holding elections under any lockdown level, whether one or two, would still not answer questions of elections being free and fair.
Vaccination
“Yes, the pandemic is not going anywhere. But if we vaccinate the majority of our people we’ll be able to open the country and we’ll live with this pandemic, the same way we living with flu. We can’t close the country because there’s flu. We’ve learned to live with it. So even this pandemic we’re going to learn to live with it. But make the solution available which is vaccination,” he said.
Malema said the IEC appointing Moseneke to investigate whether elections would be free and fair under Covid-19 and still proceed to launch their 2021 election campaign was irrational.
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The party said it took a serious exception with the IEC’s move as it created an impression that the inquiry was just a futile exercise.
“It has got nothing to do with being technically ready. You don’t need a festivity to prove that you’re ready. We take an exception about that because they want to take project you [Dikgang Moseneke] as engaging in the most use of exercise that is a forgone conclusion,” he said.
Malema said the emphasis was not on what happened on election day, but what happened prior the to election day. He said what constituted the core of the elections was rallies, campaigns, motorcades, and community meetings that had to take place.
“In the absence of the mood of elections. We will suffer a voter apathy. There will not be an interest in voting because it’s not exciting and no one is agitating. Communities are not coming together to express their excitement, express their frustrations and show support for the parties of candidates.”
Malema argued that ICASA slots were not sufficient and were only given to political parties who were dominating.
He said small parties would not be able to afford on paying for advertisements and other platforms that required financial backing.
“ICASA slots are dominated by dominating political parties. They’re given prime slots because of the numbers they have. In 2019 the EFF slots which were given by ICASA if I’m not wrong...were running around 11,12 some of them 2 in the morning. When everyone is sleeping the EFF is advertising,” he said.