The Electoral Court has set July 29 — just five days from the local government elections — as the date to hear the National Freedom Party’s (NFP) plea to contest the elections.
This comes after the party was disqualified for failing to pay the registration fee to the Independent Electoral Commission last month.
The NFP vowed on Friday to fight its disqualification until the last hour before the August 3 municipal poll with its national chairman Bheki Gumbi saying the fight was still on and they were not willing to throw in the towel.
Also read: Anna Madonsela is stabbed to death for putting up an election poster in KwaZulu-Natal
“The fight is still on. We will neither give up or surrender. This battle continues until the last hour of the election day. We don’t want our members and supporters to lose hope because of the date we have been given by the court‚” he said.
He pleaded with embattled NFP supporters not to despair “as we view this as a blessing in disguise”.
“As the leadership of the NFP‚ we still maintain and believe that we will contest the August 3 elections. It is for this reason that we make a plead with our members to exercise restraint and not do anything that might jeopardise our chances‚” he said.
Gumbi said the NFP’s legal team had prepared well and‚ with the new evidence that the party plans to present in court‚ they strongly believe that they will fiercely contest the elections.
The NFP‚ a breakaway party from the Inkatha Freedom Party‚ was disqualified by the IEC after failing to pay its deposit on the June 2 deadline.
At that time the NFP approached the Electoral Court‚ but they were unsuccessful.
– TMG Digital/The Times
NFP bolstered by court date to contest election exclusion
The Electoral Court has set July 29 — just five days from the local government elections — as the date to hear the National Freedom Party’s (NFP) plea to contest the elections.
This comes after the party was disqualified for failing to pay the registration fee to the Independent Electoral Commission last month.
The NFP vowed on Friday to fight its disqualification until the last hour before the August 3 municipal poll with its national chairman Bheki Gumbi saying the fight was still on and they were not willing to throw in the towel.
Also read: Anna Madonsela is stabbed to death for putting up an election poster in KwaZulu-Natal
“The fight is still on. We will neither give up or surrender. This battle continues until the last hour of the election day. We don’t want our members and supporters to lose hope because of the date we have been given by the court‚” he said.
He pleaded with embattled NFP supporters not to despair “as we view this as a blessing in disguise”.
“As the leadership of the NFP‚ we still maintain and believe that we will contest the August 3 elections. It is for this reason that we make a plead with our members to exercise restraint and not do anything that might jeopardise our chances‚” he said.
Gumbi said the NFP’s legal team had prepared well and‚ with the new evidence that the party plans to present in court‚ they strongly believe that they will fiercely contest the elections.
The NFP‚ a breakaway party from the Inkatha Freedom Party‚ was disqualified by the IEC after failing to pay its deposit on the June 2 deadline.
At that time the NFP approached the Electoral Court‚ but they were unsuccessful.
– TMG Digital/The Times
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