Election to go ahead in August: Concourt
The Constitutional Court has ruled that the local government election would go ahead as planned, despite a voters' roll that is invalid and inconsistent with the rule of law.
Last year, the Electoral Court ordered the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) to register voter addresses or sufficient details, after finding the Tlokwe by-elections were not free and fair, because of an inadequate registry.
The IEC applied to the Constitutional Court to have the Electoral Court's decision set aside, but Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng believed there was no reason the IEC could not comply with the Electoral Court order.
"A national common voters' roll would have to be free of defects for the purpose of the national and provincial elections. This obligation relates only to the post December 2003 voter registration that should have been conducted in keeping with Section 16(3). Desirability and utility will hopefully [encourage] the IEC to also record the objectively available addresses of all pre-December 2003 voters while it prioritises the post-December 2003 voters for compliance," Mogoeng said.