In a desperate attempt to save face, the ANC plans to use Friday's Constitutional Court order forbidding the postponement of the local government elections to argue that the Electoral Commission of SA (IEC) must reopen the candidate registration process.
The party is scrambling after a devastating blunder that saw it fail to register hundreds of candidates for the election, meaning it cannot participate in elections in 94, or more than a third, of SA's 278 municipalities.
Several highly placed ANC leaders told the Sunday Times that its national executive committee (NEC), which sat on Friday, believes that the Constitutional Court order "opens the door" for the IEC to allow the party to complete the registration process.
This is the case the party is set to argue at a meeting of political parties with the IEC, which is expected to take place tomorrow.
As things stand, the massive failure to register candidates on time leaves the ANC unlikely to be able to form even coalition governments in any of Gauteng's metros - Johannesburg, Tshwane and Ekurhuleni - after the elections are held between October 27 and November 1.
The party's numbers on council benches in the City of Cape Town could be drastically reduced because it failed to register even a single proportional representation (PR) candidate in the metro. The IFP will be the biggest winner in KwaZulu-Natal because, as things stand, the ANC will not contest any PR seats in municipalities in the Zululand district.
A PR candidate is a would-be councillor chosen via a party list.
An ANC NEC member told the Sunday Times yesterday that the party's electoral committee chair, Kgalema Motlanthe, and acting secretary-general Jessie Duarte presented a report on the candidate registration blunder. It recommends that those implicated in having caused "embarrassment to the ANC" face the consequences.
"The issue is, let's identify everyone in the value chain, from national all the way to branch level. There must be corrective measures. They must face the consequences," the NEC member said.
The report also recommends that the ANC apologises to communities affected by its failure to register candidates on time.
"It means we must take responsibility. People who are voters are wondering, 'Am I going to have a candidate in my ward?' "
The NEC member said much of the blame was placed on those involved having followed the incorrect procedure during the process to list and register candidates.
A report on the candidate registration blunder recommends those who caused 'embarrassment to the ANC' face the consequences
Provincial secretaries were not involved in the process, which was left to gatekeepers at branch level, most of whom had vested interests as they wanted to see their own names on lists of those who may become councillors after the elections.
ANC spokesperson Pule Mabe confirmed that a report was tabled before the NEC but declined to discuss its details.
"I wouldn't go into details, but in instances where processes of the ANC are undermined, the ANC will have to act against those who undermined the organisation."
Mabe would not say whether party bosses would be apologising to affected communities but said "ANC leaders will be visiting communities as part of its campaign".
Last month, the IEC and the EFF approached the Constitutional Court to apply for the postponement of the local government election to early next year.
This was also the recommendation of a panel chaired by former deputy chief justice Dikgang Moseneke, which advised that, given the Covid-19 pandemic, the elections would not be free and fair.
On Friday afternoon the country's highest court dismissed the application, ruling that the election has to take place between October 27 and November 1.
The court also instructed the IEC to decide, within three days of the order - in other words, by tomorrow afternoon - if it was "practically possible" to hold a voter registration weekend to allow new voters to register and those on the voters roll to update their personal details.
ANC leaders came out of Friday's special NEC meeting saying they believe that the Constitutional Court order means that both the voter registration and candidate registration processes will be reopened.
"When a court says the proclamation of the election date has been set aside, it means you start everything anew. Following this judgment, as we speak there is no voters roll. In terms of the Municipal Systems Act, for you to be a candidate you must be a voter. It means that all the people who are going to register must be allowed to also contest elections," said a senior party leader who spoke on condition of anonymity.
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Another NEC member said: "We have discussed the implications [of the judgment] but we are currently waiting to hear from the IEC and they promised to do so by Monday.
"Yes, we believe [we can still register candidates]. The IEC is meeting this weekend and will decide on those issues."
But DA IEC representative, Werner Horn, said the party did not expect the commission to allow for the reopening of registration of candidates.
"If you read the order, it says the timetable stays in place except for those changes that are reasonably necessary as a result of the court order that voter registration must be enabled. So in our view that would mean for example, inspection and certification dates contained in the timetable must be redetermined and also dates for the application of special votes," said Horn.
He said the submission of candidate lists was a separate aspect of the timetable that was not affected by the opening of registration. Horn said the EFF application had asked to extend the period for submission of candidates - but this was also dismissed.
An additional NEC member said Friday's meeting also discussed the possibility of going to parliament for a constitutional amendment to allow for the postponement of the elections.
"Their difficulty is that they don't have a two-thirds majority and they don't have time," said the party leader.
An attorney who has previously represented the ANC said the stance of the NEC accorded with the legal opinion that the ANC would receive.
"They [the court] have given us a gap. That's my reading of the situation. Because if the proclamation is unconstitutional and invalid, technically there is no election [date] yet until the minister issues a new proclamation," the attorney said.
"The old proclamation was on the 3rd of August and closed the voters roll. So, by opening the voters roll, by implication they are opening the candidate registration also," the attorney said.
"The minister [of co-operative governance & traditional affairs, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma] will have to wait for the IEC to have the voters registration weekend and after that she will have to issue a fresh proclamation."
Mabe said: "Our legal team is currently studying the court order. We will be engaging the IEC with a view of ensuring that we have free and fair elections."
The IEC was expected to be holding back-to-back meetings to thrash out options it will present to political parties. It is expected that it will also deal with the question of whether to reopen the candidates list.
IEC spokesperson Kate Bapela confirmed the expected meetings with political parties.
"I'm confirming that the IEC will be at work getting ready in terms of the registration weekend as dictated by the Constitutional Court ruling ... Those are the things we are getting our hands on because ... it's within our domain," she said.
"Any other things that the chief electoral officer, Sy Mamabolo, is still going to discuss with the political parties, we don't have that agenda, we don't have the issues, we don't know what political parties are going to raise with [him]."
The ANC's intended plan to use the court order to correct its mess is expected to receive resistance from opposition parties.
The ANC's intended plan to use the court order to correct its mess is expected to receive resistance from opposition parties
The EFF has already issued a warning to the IEC "not to misinterpret this court judgment and the instruction to open voter registration as an opportunity to reopen the process of candidate submission ... and proportional representation submission".
"All political parties were afforded the same amount of time to submit their candidates by August 23 2021, on the same platform and under the same deadline.
"Any attempt to reopen that process would confirm that the IEC operates on the whims and needs of the ruling party and lacks independence and partiality," the EFF said in a statement.
Electoral expert Ebrahim Fakir said it would be difficult to analyse the Constitutional Court order and its implications until a full judgment is released.
He said the reopening of the candidates list would depend on the decision of the IEC.
"If they open up to have a registration weekend, they are going to get calls to say if you open up registration, you can open up the candidates' nomination list for 24 or 48 hours," he said.
Fakir said there is little time for the IEC to conclude the entire process before the election takes place.
- Additional reporting by Sibongakonke Shoba
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