Governance & Politics – 02 April 2024

GOVERNANCE & POLITICS

• Elections. South Africa’s main opposition Democratic Alliance may consider entering a coalition with the ruling African National Congress to avoid the country being governed by more leftist parties after this year’s election. A “doomsday scenario” in which the ANC teams up with the EFF or the Jacob Zuma-backed uMkhonto weSizwe Party or MKP may force the more centrist DA to change its strategy of refusing to deal with the ANC, DA leader John Steenhuisen said in an interview. (Source)

• ANC loses MK case. The ANC has lost its case in the Electoral Court seeking the deregistration of the newly launched uMkhonto weSizwe party. The court on Tuesday dismissed its case, saying the ANC has not made a case why the Jacob Zuma-led MK party should be deregistered. It found the ANC’s contention – that the Electoral Commission of SA broke the law by allowing the MK party to supplement its already rejected application – holds no water. (Source)

• IEC publishes election candidate lists. The Electoral Commission this week published candidate lists for parties contesting the general elections in South Africa. In all, 14 662 candidates have been nominated to contest the 887 seats available in the National Assembly and the nine provincial legislatures. A total of 42 candidates were appearing on more than one party list implicating 39 parties. The public had until 27 March to lodge objections, with the IEC deciding on the objections on 28 March. A final list of candidates will be published on 10 April. (Source)

• Expropriation Bill approved. The National Assembly approved the Expropriation Bill as amended by the National Council of Provinces with a vote of 205 in favour and 108 against. A public committee meeting was held on Tuesday to approve the changes, followed by Wednesday’s vote a day before the National Assembly rises for a constituency period ahead of elections. This approval vote marks the end of a 16-year process that began in 2008 to replace the apartheid-era expropriation law still on the statute books. (Source)

• Treasury’s integrated management contract irregular. A National Treasury project worth more than R1 billion to integrate the financial management of national and provincial government has been found to be irregular by the Special Investigating Unit. The National Treasury has consistently maintained there was no corruption involved in the contract with Oracle to implement the project, which has been under planning and implementation in various forms for about 20 years. (Source)