A few weeks before the elections, the Economic Freedom Fighters party has gone to court to try to avoid paying the deposit required of parties contesting the polls. Yesterday the party asked the Pretoria High Court to suspend the Independent Electoral Commission rule that parties must pay R600000. Judgment was reserved. The commission is opposing the application. The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) will find out soon whether or not it would be required to pay a deposit to the Electoral Commission of just over R600 000 to contest the elections at the national level and in all provinces. On Wednesday (05-03-2014) evening, the high court in Pretoria reserved judgment in the application by the EFF for an urgent order suspending the commission’s regulation that requires the payment of a deposit of R605 000 with the submission of a party list to contest the national and provincial elections. Judge Joseph Raulinga indicated that judgment must be out before next Wednesday, the deadline for political parties to submit their lists and pay the deposit of R200 000 for contesting the national election and R45 000 for each province they intended to contest. The commission is opposing the application, while President Jacob Zuma and the Minister of Home Affairs Naledi Pandor indicated that they would abide by the court ruling. The party asked for an order temporarily exempting the EFF and other registered political parties affected by the deposits from paying these, as they did not receive parliament party funding. Alternatively, it asked that a small nominal deposit be prescribed for new entrant parties such as itself. EFF’s leader Julius Malema sat through most of the proceedings before addressing the crowd of EFF supporters on the steps of the court on Wednesday afternoon. EFF counsel Dumisa Ntsebeza SC said that before 1994, people were excluded from voting based on their skin colour. “What we now have is that if you are marginalised or poor, you are excluded from participating,” Ntsebeza said. Ntsebeza said the EFF’s constituency base was the unemployed and could not raise the deposit. “In a country where poverty is manifest and where the alleviation of poverty is a catchphrase of the leading party in the country, most of those who support the EFF are unemployed and unemployable.” Ntsebeza suggested an alternative way to ensure new party entrants like the EFF could participate in elections. He said the commission could ask the party to show an audited membership of about 200 000 people. Counsel for the commission Marumo Moerane SC, said the requirement that parties which sought to contest the election should pay a deposit was a policy choice of the executive. It is not for the (EFF) or courts to second-guess policy choices which are irrational, Moerane said. Moerane also said the court was not dealing with individuals whose rights had been infringed. “The electoral commission did not act unlawfully in this case. If the commission unlawfully disqualifies a registered party from taking part in an election, that will be the issue that affects members of the party,” Moerane said. He said other democracies required higher amounts to be paid by parties than those required by the commission. Moerane said a party which wished to contest elections in Australia was required to pay an equivalent of R16m, while this was R8m in Canada, R7m in the United Kingdom, R1m in India, and R580 000 in Kenya. Moerane also said the EFF had not made a case that the application was urgent. He said the EFF must have known the requirements of a deposit by October last year when it registered as a political party. If it did not know about the deposit then, it should have known when it became a member of the national party liaison committee in November 2013, Moerane said. This committee is established by the commission to allow for consultation between the commission and all registered parties on electoral matters. Ernest Mabuza
Posted on: Fri, 07 Mar 2014 06:51:32 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015