Cogta Minister Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma declares 27 October 2021 as local government elections day

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Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta) Minister Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma has declared October 27th 2021 as the 2021 Local Government Elections day.

This is despite the postponement that was suggested by the former Deputy Chief Justice Ntate Dikgang Moseneke to the electoral commission in consideration with the current pandemic and the third wave of Covid-19 infections.

Moseneke said that amount of daily infections that are currently facing the country together with the lockdown regulations would make the elections unfair because there is strictly limited political gathering and as a result political parties can’t campaign.

Minister Dlamini-Zuma made this announcement on Tuesday.

Section 159 of the Constitution, read with the Municipal Structures Act, prescribes that the end of a five-year term of local government elections be held within a period of 90 days.

The Minister also made this announcement inline with the constitution following the announcement of the electoral month by President Matamela Ramaphosa earlier this year.

Minister also said that she was just merely practicing her constitutional mandate by declaring the date and she was in no way ignoring Moseneke’s report.

In giving his advice for the postponement, Moseneke held an inquiry which had 4 000 submissions from political parties, health experts and the general public, concluding its work and handing the report to the IEC in July.

He also recommended that the Commission approach a court of competent jurisdiction to seek a just and equitable order to defer elections to not later than February 2022.

To which the Commission, IEC agreed to do but prior to that they said they will have take more legal advice and further study the report.