MEDIA RELEASE 

 2024-04-19 

SUMMARY: The Labour Party of South Africa (Labour Party) has filed its court papers for an urgent application to the Constitutional Court of South Africa (ConCourt). The prayer of the application is for the ConCourt to compel the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) to review its election timetable, thereby necessitating a postponement of the 29 May 2024 election date. The Party explains how the prejudice faced by the voting public of many new parties being excluded from the elections, far outweighs the possible prejudice faced if the election is postponed. The Labour Party estimates such a postponed date might be in either July or August this year, in terms of the Electoral Act and the Constitution. All registered political parties who wish to support the Labour Party’s application, are requested to submit answering affidavits in support.

Following a narrow defeat at the Electoral Court earlier this week, the Labour Party announced its plans to file a fresh application to the ConCourt. Two (2) of the five (5) Electoral Court judges agreed with the Labour Party, but the application was dismissed based on the majority view, informed by the IEC’s submissions. 

The cause and focus of this litigation are the online portal of the IEC that malfunctioned in the final hours of the Labour Party uploading the supporting documents required by the recent amendments to the Electoral Act.

According to these amendments, only new parties are burdened with an additional requirement of uploading up to 62 000 names, surnames, ID numbers and signatures of registered voters, to a malfunctioning internet portal created by the IEC. If a party fails to do this, the party is barred from participating in the election. There is also no alternative given to parties to submit supporting documents, than doing it via the malfunctioning platform. This is further compounded by the fact that this system has never been tested, insofar as it relates to the uploading of documents in terms of the recent amendments to the Act.

The IEC and Electoral Court dragged the urgent application of the Labour Party (and other new parties with similar complaints) for more than a month, which led to the Electoral Timetable’s milestones passing by, thus rendering the relief sought moot and academic. The Labour Party (and several other new political parties) therefore had no other viable choice than to approach the ConCourt for urgent relief.

In the Notice of Motion served and filed by the Labour Party yesterday (18 April 2024), the first respondent is the IEC, the second respondent is the President of the Republic of South Africa, and the third to further respondents are all registered political parties in South Africa.

According to the Notice of Motion [**available on www.labourparty.org.za], the Labour Party seeks for the following relief: 1) That the exclusion of the Labour Party from the upcoming elections is declared “inconsistent with the Constitution and unlawful”; 2) That the IEC is directed to request the State President to “to postpone the date for the holding of the elections to a new date falling within the period referred to in … the Electoral Act”; and 3) That the “election timetable is set aside”. 

The terms of section 21(1)(b) of the Electoral Act, the IEC can request the elections to be postponed to a date within the confines of section 49(3) of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, which limits such a postponement to a total of ninety (90) days from the date on which it was set aside.

In the Founding Affidavit [**available on www.labourparty.org.za], it is explained how the Labour Party and other new parties have been excluded from participating in the elections as a result of the electoral timetable which was unreasonably condensed. It shows how the process adopted by the IEC is unsatisfactory with a portal that was deficient and not fit for purpose. 

“The paragraph that best describes the crux of the decision before the [Constitutional] Court, must be paragraph 64 of our [founding] affidavit”, said Labour Party Secretariat Krister Janse van Rensburg. “This paragraph crisply and succinctly summarises the prejudice faced by the Labour Party and many other parties as compared to the relatively small effect of postponing the elections. Let’s be frank, it would be better to have free and fair elections a few weeks later, than to have the elections on 29 May 2024, but the elections are not free and fair”, said Van Rensburg.

Referring to section 49 of the Constitution, Van Rensburg explained what would need to happen if the State President were to postpone the elections: “In terms of subsection 3 [of section 49 of the Constitution], the State President must set a new date for the elections to take place within ninety [90] days of the [Constitutional] Court setting aside the current date” he said. “In any event, in terms of both the Electoral Act read with the Constitution, the State President could in any event have announced the elections to take place in late August 2024”, he added.

“In simple terms, this means that, let’s say the Labour Party succeeds in this case and the judgment is handed down on 28 April 2024 for instance, the [State] President would have to set the new election date to be before the last week of August 2024. We could therefore likely be looking at a postponed date in either July or August this year. If we don’t address this now, the nation will be prejudiced for a full five years”, Van Rensburg concluded. 

*[More details regarding these legal cases can be found in previous media releases appearing on the Labour Party’s website, www.labourparty.org.za.] 

**[All parties cited in the ConCourt application are directed to download the court papers from www.labourparty.org.za or send a request to LDA@LDALAW.CO.ZA. Those parties that wish to support the case of the Labour Party and support the cause of postponing the election so that we can submit all information and amend what is necessary, are requested to simply file an answering affidavit in response to the Labour Party’s application pledging your support to the Registrar of the Constitutional Court in Braamfontein. Please do this as soon as possible. If you require any assistance, please contact LDA Inc. on 011-268-6512 or via email on LDA@LDALAW.CO.ZA] 

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For more information or to arrange interviews, please send a request to secretariat@labourparty.org.za. 

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The Labour Party is a social democratic party, very similar to labour parties in other countries. 

The Labour Party is non-racial and therefore it is a home for all progressive and likeminded organisations, including trade unions and civil society organisations that share our values and ethos. 

The Labour Party’s main campaign slogan is: “The power is in your hands”, emphasising the connection to work being done with one’s hands, but also the realisation that voters can bring change by what they do and how they vote. 

The Labour Party emphasises that unemployment remains enemy number one.  

The Labour Party believes that work brings not only social mobility, but also dignity and pride.

Key policy objectives of the Labour Party include:

• Jobs for all, as we believe that there is more than enough work for everybody in South Africa.
• Quality public services and protection of state-owned enterprises to enhance the social wage of all citizens.
• Assurance that the rich mineral and natural resources of South Africa are used to empower South Africans in the broadest possible sense.
• Addressing youth unemployment by a conscription programme for unemployed youth.
• Overhauling the education system to produce the skills required by the economy.
• Diversification of the economy through industrialisation and beneficiation.

The Labour Party will base its policies on Christian values within the confines of a secular state.