EFF statement on Constitutional Court outcomes on the voters roll and addresses
15 June 2016
The EFF welcomes the Constitutional Court judgment on the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) application as to whether it is required to have a national common voters’ roll that has the addresses of registered voters for the purposes of the August 2016 local government elections.
The IEC wanted the court to give clarity as to date of effectiveness of its ruling on the Tlokwe by-elections on November 2015 judgement uin matters relating to the addresses of registered voters. In seeking this clarity, IEC wanted the court to direct as “to from when the addresses are to be recorded? And if they are unable to correct the voters’ roll before the elections are held, should the elections be postponed or proceeded with even if the voters’ roll is defective?”
In the majority judgment, the court held that “where such addresses are available” does not mean those addresses that the IEC chose to record, but rather addresses that are objectively available or ascertainable. The court found that the Electoral Act imposes an obligation on the IEC to record objectively available voters’ addresses with effect from 17 December 2003 and they have failed. The court made a determination that “the failure to compile a voters’ roll with available addresses is inconsistent with the Constitution and invalid”.
It is inconceivable that 13 years after the Electoral Act was promulgated, parliament and the Department of Home Affairs failed to hold IEC accountable on this obligation. It served the ruling party well that such an omission perpetuated its grip on power corruptly in a flawed voters’ roll for the subsequent elections of 2004, 2005, 2009, 2011 and 2014.