Operation Dudula calls for elections to be postponed

Newly registered political party, Operation Dudula, wants the upcoming general elections to be postponed.

This is as the party forges ahead with its plans to approach the Constitutional Court in its bid to make it onto the ballot paper.

Dudula was excluded from the national ballot after it missed the deadline for the submission of candidate lists.

An issue that they are blaming the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) for.

The party claims the IEC refused to assist them after they indicated that they were experiencing technical glitches.

Dudula’s case was dismissed at the Electoral Court this week.

The organisation’s deputy secretary-general, Isaac Lesole, says the IEC cannot print ballot papers when the Apex Court has not heard their matter.

This is despite the IEC having said it was going ahead with the printing of the ballot that excludes Operation Dudula, among others.

Lesole says they hope that the highest court in the land will be able to resolve this matter.

He has labelled the move by the IEC to exclude them as irrational.

The political party is also accusing the Electoral Court of having handled the case in a bias manner, saying it was dismissed without reason.

He says they will be approaching the Electoral Court to seek the reasons for the blow.

 

Political expert, Professor Dirk Coetzee, however, says the elections for now can only be pushed to August but nothing further than that.

“The Constitution allows for the elections to be held within 90 days of the expiry date of the current term of the National Assembly and provincial legislatures. The only window we have right now is push them to August,” says the Professor.

He says other than that – the Constitution will have to be amended to allow for a longer postponement.

“And Constitution can’t be amended before an election and the amendment needs a two-thirds majority and public hearings. Otherwise, the Constitution can be chopped and changed all the time,” he adds.

South Africans will be heading for the country’s seventh democratic elections in less than six weeks, where 23 292 voting stations will be used.

The highest number of voting stations will be in KwaZulu-Natal.