Electoral Commission adopts Moseneke Report, will seek postponement of Local Government Elections
Jul 23, 2021
The Electoral Commission has carefully considered and resolved to adopt the final report of the ‘Inquiry into Ensuring Free and Fair Elections during COVID-19’ by former Deputy Chief Justice Dikgang Moseneke. The Commission accepts the rational and the central thesis of the report that greater immunity through mass vaccination is a desirable precondition for a safe, free and fair election to be realized.
Following the submission of the report on Tuesday this week, the Commission met to review and deliberate and unanimously agreed to adopt the report. In so far as the recommendations pertain, the Commission will adjust implementation to accord with current legal prescripts and financial means. Where there are substantial financial implications, National Treasury will be approached for additional funding.
The report found that it was not reasonably possible or likely that the Local Government Elections scheduled for October 2021 would be free and fair and recommended that the Electoral Commission approach a court of competent jurisdiction to seek a just and equitable order for the deferral of the elections to a date not later than February 2022.
The Commission therefore resolved: