The ANC’s provincial secretaries gathered on Monday night to discuss election strategy after President Cyril Ramaphosa’s closing address to the party’s weekend lekgotla. A wide range of the ANC’s leaders and public representatives — ranging from ministers, former presidents and mayors to leaders of the party’s leagues and alliance partners — attended the lekgotla, where Ramaphosa said the party welcomed an announcement on Monday by the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) that it would reopen the registration of candidate nominations.

The announcement followed an order by the Constitutional Court on Friday that a proclamation of 27 October as the election date be set aside, and the old timetable be scrapped, in favour of a new date and a new timetable. It is understood that the IEC is working towards a new election date of 1 November.

Ramaphosa said the ANC welcomed the IEC’s decision to hold a voter registration weekend and agreed “with the IEC that there is an inextricable link between voter registration and the right to stand for public office”. He said the party “therefore further welcomes the decision to reopen candidate registration. We believe this is in line with constitutional and legislative prescripts.”

Candidates would be allowed to register on 20 and 21 September. 

The ANC’s interpretation of this issue is similar to that of the Freedom Front Plus, whose elections head, Wouter Wessels, said it would, according to the Constitutional Court’s ruling, be “reasonably necessary” to open candidate nominations again because a candidate’s registration details as a voter could change when voter registration is reopened, which meant this would affect the candidate’s nomination.

“It could practically disadvantage all parties if there isn’t an opportunity, after the proclamation of the elections [and when voter registration closes], to ensure that your candidates comply with the registration,” he said.

Ramaphosa added that it would also give those who didn’t register in the previous round, but who want to run as candidates, the chance to register both as voters and as candidates.

The Democratic Alliance, however, has started briefing its lawyers to “explore all available legal avenues to oppose the decision by the IEC to reopen its candidate registration process”.

This move by the IEC surprised many commentators, who had interpreted the Constitutional Court’s ruling as excluding this possibility. Reasons for the court’s majority decision are yet to be handed down, and might clarify the matter.

The IFP, which in 2011 suffered losses because it had issues with registering all its candidates, as well as Action SA and the One SA movement, agree with the DA’s view on this.

After last week claiming incorrectly — and without producing proof — that the ANC had obtained privileged information from Constitutional Court judges that the elections would be postponed to next year, DA Federal Council Chairperson Helen Zille on Monday implied — again without producing proof — that the IEC was being used by the ANC “to do its bidding”. She insisted that the ANC had “captured” the IEC “to manipulate our Constitution and our electoral processes”.

She said the voter and candidate registration processes were distinct from each other, and the 23 August deadline for candidate registrations cannot be reopened.

The DA is one of the few parties that said early on it was ready for this year’s elections in spite of the Covid-19 pandemic, as it had held a number of online events last year, including its conference and leadership election. 

It launched its election campaign on 22 May, by means of a virtual rally, and, with the FF Plus, have put up election posters in towns and cities across the country to encourage voters to register.

The Economic Freedom Fighters had not commented directly on the IEC’s announcement, but on Twitter, the third-largest party declared that it was ready for the elections and would launch its manifesto on 26 September in Johannesburg.

The ANC has, meanwhile, started finalising its election timetable. 

It is unclear as yet when the governing party will launch its election campaign, but Ramaphosa, in his political report to the lekgotla, said the ANC had to be innovative and use technology in the campaign. 

Market research company Ipsos said on Monday its poll of 1,500 South Africans randomly interviewed by phone found that almost half said they would vote for the ANC, while many in rural provinces like Limpopo, Eastern Cape and North West indicated that they might stay away.

The ANC had just under 54% of the total support in the 2016 local government elections — its worst result yet. 

Ramaphosa on Monday told ANC leaders that municipalities should become attractive investment prospects as investors go there, and not to the Union Buildings, if they’re looking to invest.

He said the government’s District Development Model, first punted by him in his 2019 State of the Nation Address, should be the anchor for the government’s infrastructure projects. 

“The District Development Model must act as a driving force for local economic development through identifying comparative advantages and strategies for developing these on a district basis,” he said. 

“In this regard, all levels of government must work together to ensure security of water and electricity to local businesses and maintenance of transport infrastructure.”

Roads, water and electricity are some of the key issues in many rural municipalities.

Two out of the three pilot municipalities in the District Development Model have encountered difficulties that influenced the success of the programme. The council of the OR Tambo District Municipality in the Eastern Cape was dissolved after management and leadership issues, and the Ethekwini Metro was rocked by violence, arson and looting in July, following the imprisonment of former president Jacob Zuma.

Ramaphosa said the effective implementation of the District Development Model “may require legislative reform and amendments to the intergovernmental relations framework” and the government would be urged to intensify its work in this regard. DM