With the IEC admitting that it did not have addresses of millions of registered voters, the Constitutional Court on Monday inquired from the parties before it whether they could find a common ground and resolve the voters’ roll impasse.
“Is it a reasonable proposal to make to the parties, that between now and the production of the judgement, if we have to get to that point, that parties try to reach out to one another and find what you call reasonable terms that could then be furnished to the court to consider?” asked Chief Justice Mogoeng.
Anton Katz SC, for the Democratic Alliance, told the court that by-elections differed from general elections as they were subjected to “certain kind of difficulties” that Tlokwe experienced.
“The difficulty in the general elections, which is when all the wards vote in the same time, is that I can go to a particular ward and vote, my finger would be inked and therefore I wont be able to go vote in another ward…whether I voted in the wrong ward or not, I would exercise my right to vote,” said Katz.
In the by-elections, that difficulty does not arise because there is only one ward that is holding an election, so one would arrive at a ward, and vote even though they were not entitled to vote in that ward, said Katz.
He said the DA was concerned with the voters’ roll which had no addresses, as people could be easily be bused into a ward to vote in a by-election.
Mogoeng reserved judgement, delaying the crucial ruling for the 2016 elections, which should be held on 3 August.
To read more, click here
kougademocrat 
Leave a Reply