MEDIA RELEASE
2024-05-07
SUMMARY: The Labour Party of South Africa (Labour Party) is praying for justice to be served in its urgent application to the Constitutional Court of South Africa (ConCourt) being heard tomorrow (8 May 2024). The Party is confident that its legal team has made the necessary preparations to present its case in a clear and succinct manner to the panel of justices. The application launched by the Labour Party has been supported by a total of nineteen (19) other new political parties that also experienced similar problems with the malfunctioning online portal of the Independent Elections Commission (IEC). Notably, only the IEC has opposed the application, and neither the President of South Africa (who is the second respondent) or any of the registered political parties opposed the Labour Party’s bid to set aside the elections timetable and postpone the date of the elections.
Tomorrow (8 May 2024) will see a landmark case being heard at the Constitutional Court, when the Labour Party takes on the constitutionality of the exclusion of a significant number of unrepresented political parties from participating in the 2024 national and provincial elections. The application centres squarely on the poorly designed, user-unfriendly and malfunctioning online portal which parties are forced to use to upload candidate lists and the names, ID numbers and signatures of up to around 62 000 supporters.
“In the simplest of terms, our case can be explained by means of a familiar analogy”, said Labour Party Secretariat Krister Janse van Rensburg. “This analogy is that of a person missing his or her flight, as well as two possible different reasons for missing the flight. On the one hand, the person is somehow delayed and arrives late to the boarding gate after it has closed, and he or she forfeits the flight. This is the IEC’s case – that the Labour Party and the more than nineteen other new parties missed the deadline by our own doing. Most will agree that, in such case, the person who missed his or her flight would have to buy another ticket”, he said.
“However, in the case of the Labour Party is different. In following the same analogy of the flight, the Labour Party arrived at the airport well within time. Let’s say we arrived at the airport more than three hours before the flight, but when we arrived at the boarding gate, the gate was malfunctioning, and we could not enter. We asked for help but eventually the time came that the gate closed, and the plane left without us”, explained Van Rensburg.
“Most people will agree that this would be unfair, and that the person missing his or her flight for this reason will either have to be reimbursed or given the opportunity to take the next flight”, he said. “Our case is similar in many ways – we want the ConCourt to agree that the IEC’s portal malfunctioned, and that we must be given an opportunity to submit the documents we already have, so that we can participate in the upcoming elections”, he said.
The Labour Party will be represented by Advocate Christopher Loxton, a Senior Counsel specialising in constitutional law, briefed by LDA Inc. Attorneys. The case is set to be heard at 10:00 tomorrow (8 May 2024) at the Constitutional Court in Braamfontein, Johannesburg.
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.
“We are cautiously optimistic about our prospects tomorrow”, said Van Rensburg. “Our application was supported by nineteen [19] other parties and only the IEC opposed us. Neither the State President nor any of the other political parties are opposed to our application”, he said.
“The bottom line, which the honourable justices will have to look at, is to strike a balance between the prejudice caused by postponing the election date to accommodate maximum participation, versus the prejudice faced by citizens if a vast number of political parties are excluded from the election and they are denied their constitutional right to freedom of association”, he concluded.
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*[More details regarding these legal cases can be found in previous media releases appearing on the Labour Party’s website, www.labourparty.org.za.]
For more information or to arrange interviews, please send a request to secretariat@labourparty.org.za.
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.
