Johannesburg – Former Johannesburg mayor Herman Mashaba’s ActionSA has accused the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) of sabotaging the party along with the ANC.
ActionSA announced on Wednesday that it was challenging the commission’s decision not to include its name on the ballot paper in the six municipalities in which it is contesting for seats in the November 1 local government elections at the Electoral Court in Mangaung.
The party has assembled a high-powered legal team that includes lead advocate Adila Hassim SC, Tebogo Raikane and lead attorney Wendel Bloem, who is a director of Johannesburg-based law firm Mkhabela Huntley Attorneys Inc.
”Is the IEC now an extension of Luthuli House (the ANC’s headquarters) or not? We find it very, very strange and very bizarre. The IEC cannot really be an extension of Luthuli House when Luthuli House is unable to pay salaries and the IEC, because of our taxes is able to pay salaries,” Mashaba said.
ActionSA Leader Herman Mashaba with the party's legal team explaining why they were taking the Electoral Commission of SA to the Electoral Court. VIDEO: IOL Politics
He said ActionSA did not expect the IEC to be an extension of Luthuli House.
”The IEC must actually desist from being an extension of Luthuli House, it must be an Independent Electoral Commission looking not after the interests of political parties but after the interests of South African voters,” Mashaba explained.
According to ActionSA’s Johannesburg mayoral candidate, there has been a pattern in the IEC’s conduct against the party.
”It is for that reason we are convinced this is a concerted effort by the IEC to sabotage our participation in these upcoming elections. But I want to assure and reassure South Africans that we are going to participate in these upcoming local government elections, and we are not going to participate as a logo. We are going to participate as ActionSA,” he added.
ActionSA Leader Herman Mashaba, flanked by the party's legal team on challenging the IEC's decision to only include the party's logo but not the name on the ballot papers ahead of the local government elections. VIDEO: Loyiso Sidimba/IOL Politics
Mashaba described ActionSA as the vaccine to save South Africa.
Political Bureau