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'Delayed elections mean delayed accountability' — One SA Movement opposes postponement

One SA Movement leader Mmusi Maimane is calling for the elections to take place on October 27, as announced by President Cyril Ramaphosa earlier this year. File photo.
One SA Movement leader Mmusi Maimane is calling for the elections to take place on October 27, as announced by President Cyril Ramaphosa earlier this year. File photo.
Image: Veli Nhlapo

The One SA Movement has launched a petition against the postponement of the local government elections.

The movement is calling for the elections to take place on Oct. 27, as announced by President Cyril Ramaphosa earlier this year.

The petition has so far amassed more than 10,700 signatures.

The Constitutional Court is expected to make a ruling this week on an application by the IEC to postpone the elections. This after retired deputy chief justice Dikgang Moseneke recommended that the elections be postponed to February next year due to the risks associated with the Covid-19 pandemic. 

Moseneke engaged leaders of different political parties before arriving at his conclusion. 

The movement's leader Mmusi Maimane told TimesLIVE he proposed in his presentation to Moseneke that SA puts safety measures in place during the elections in October. 

“It is common cause that Covid-19 will be with us for the foreseeable future. We made recommendations to the Moseneke inquiry about how we can hold elections — it's about making sure the elections take place over three days and making sure that they are safe,” said Maimane.

Maimane added that delayed municipal elections mean delayed service delivery and accountability. 

“It would be amiss of us to fail to realise that local municipalities are in collapse. We must deal with that issue. We can't exempt them from accountability.

“There are municipalities without water and electricity. What are you saying to those people? You are saying no, you can wait. Accountability doesn't work like that,” he said. 


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