Durban – The Electoral Court sitting in Bloemfontein has dismissed a last-minute application by the ANC in KwaZulu-Natal to be allowed to register a candidate for Wednesday’s by-elections in Mtubatuba in the north of the province.
The ANC wanted the matter to be heard on an urgent basis and the court dismissed that and the merits of the case were never argued by the parties.
A disputed glitch during the registration process in December last year saw the regional structure miss the deadline.
BREAKING NEWS: The Electoral Court sitting in Bloemfontein has dismissed a last-minute application by the ANC in KwaZulu-Natal to be allowed to correct a registration glitch and field a candidate for Wednesday’s by-elections in Mtubatuba in the north of the province.
— Sihle Mavuso (@ZANewsFlash) January 17, 2023
This has paved the way for the IFP to be able to snatch the ward which was left vacant when the ANC councillor there resigned and took a full-time job in the municipality.
Left red-faced by the blunder and failure to register a candidate, the ANC dashed to the Electoral Court for a condonation, but the court turned them down.
During the application, the IFP asked to be allowed to join the case as an interested party and the court granted the party its wish.
Late on Tuesday, the court emailed the ruling to all interested parties, crushing the ANC’s bid to join the race on the last minute.
“Having read the papers and considered the matter, the following order is issued:
“1. Application for condonation is dismissed.
“Inkatha Freedom Party is granted to intervene as a respondent in these proceedings.
“The application (by the ANC) is dismissed.
“There is no order as to costs,” reads the ruling sent out by the registrar of the court, C Dee Wee.
The chairperson of the ANC in the Nokuhamba Nyawo (uMkhanyakude District Municipality), Siphile Mdaka, said the court condonation they applied for was that they wanted the matter to be heard as an urgent one.
He said what the court did was that it did not listen to oral arguments, but looked at papers and made a ruling.
He was hopeful that these elections would be challenged and nullified in the near future, as they have done before.
“This ruling is not about the merits of the case we brought before the court. It was that we were not able to convince the court to say the matter was urgent and grant us a condonation.
“It’s not over, though. We will still fight on and challenge this matter. I have challenged and overturned elections in the past,” Mdaka told IOL.
IFP spokesperson Mkhuleko Hlengwa said the ANC had only itself to blame for the matter of Mtubatuba by-elections.
“‘The IFP can confirm receipt of the Electoral Court judgment on the Mtubatuba Ward 9 by-election, and the IFP welcomes it. It’s a victory for democracy and the legislated due processes of elections.
“The ANC have themselves to blame, and the court is right not to condone the ANC's glaring administrative deficiencies.
“We look forward to a peaceful by-election tomorrow,” Hlengwa told IOL.