Should this year’s local government elections be postponed and run together with the provincial and national elections as a single event in 2024?
This question is currently being discussed widely and was also the main question during a webinar hosted by the North-West University (NWU)’s Faculty of Law on 20 May 2021.
The title of the webinar was “The 2021 South African local government elections at a crossroad: synchronisation”.
The panel members were Prof Jaap de Visser (a professor in the Faculty of Law at the University of the Western Cape and director of the Dullah Omar Institute), Prof Mcebisi Ndletyana (an associate professor at the University of Johannesburg and an author of numerous publications), and Mr Legesse Mengie (a researcher at the Faculty of Law at the University of Adelaide in Australia).
Prof De Visser said synchronising elections will be very complex for both the voter and the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC).
“If elections are synchronised, it means there will be five ballot papers for the IEC to print – two for national parliament and the National Council of Provinces (NCOP), one for the provincial legislature and two for municipality elections.
He further indicated that if elections are synchronised the hype will be around who has a majority in parliament and who will be the president, thereby neglecting local government.
“Aligning political terms in South Africa is a ruse since the political term is not a problem and the fragmentation in government will remain,” he added.
Prof Ndletyana said synchronising the local government elections with provincial and national elections will be self-serving for political parties, and at the same time will be a serious problem for the electorates.
“We are not the only democracy in the world that will have elections during a pandemic. So far 118 countries have gone ahead with elections during this time, and in 41 countries turn-up for elections has gone up. Therefore, it does not mean that because we are amid the Covid-19 pandemic the turn-up for local government will go down,” said Prof Ndletyana.
Mr Legesse said an election is the primary means by which government power is assumed in constitutional democracies, and that the postponement of elections has posed this question: what exit mechanisms do constitutional systems have to address a power vacuum caused by unforeseen circumstances such as Covid-19?
“In other words, how can a legitimate government that adheres to the rule of law, a constitution more specifically, be ensured when elections cannot be held?”
While some countries held elections amid Covid-19 with precautions, others postponed them. Mr Legesse looked at Ethiopia as an example, who have postponed its elections.
“The postponement of Ethiopia’s general elections sparked a debate about how the power vacuum caused by the pandemic should be addressed. After deliberating on this issue, I came to the conclusion that a comprehensive understanding of the Constitution offers an answer to the conundrum.
“The upper house has adopted a holistic interpretation approach and that is commendable. However, the ruling that allows the government to stay in power for an unknown time and the partiality inherent in the house compromise the merit of its interpretation,” said Mr Legesse.
Watch the webinar here
