Governance & Politics – 29 April 2024

GOVERNANCE AND POLITICS

• The Umkhonto weSizwe Party (MKP) has been accused of extensively forging signatures to qualify for the upcoming national elections. This claim comes from a former senior official of the party in a statement submitted to the Western Cape police. The team allegedly fraudulently obtained names, identity numbers and cellphone numbers of jobseekers from a database of the Cape Metro Council. They also acquired personal details of members of a funeral association. According to legislation, political parties must submit at least 15 000 signatures of members and supporters to register for this year’s election and appear on the national ballot. During a liaison committee meeting with political parties earlier this year, the IEC indicated that it could check people’s identity numbers to determine whether they were registered for the election. Regarding the submission of signatures, it said that if there were no obvious errors – such as the same signatures or handwriting on the lists – then it had to rely on the “good faith” of political parties. (Source)

• Ipsos Survey.  The latest Ipsos survey is based on the views of 2,545 registered voters who were interviewed by “trained Ipsos interviewers” in their homes and in their home languages. The interviews were conducted from March 9 to April 15 in all provinces, including settlements in rural areas. Ipsos said the results were weighted and projected using the Electoral Commission of SA (IEC) registration figures which show “27,698,201 South Africans are registered to vote in the 2024 elections”. According to the latest survey, ANC support could fall to 40.2%. This is down from the 40.5% it polled on February 6, and the 43% it polled on October 27, 2023. The DA, the country’s official opposition, polled at 21.9% — up from the 20.5% on February 6, and 20% of October 2023. The EFF, SA’s third-largest political party, could receive 11.5% of the vote, down from 19.6% in February and 18% in October. The Umkhonto weSizwe (MK) party led by former president Jacob Zuma could receive 11.5% of voter share. There are no figures for the party in February and October 2023. (Source)

• An Electoral Court majority has found that former president Jacob Zuma qualifies for appointment to the National Assembly because the 15-month prison term he received from the Constitutional Court for contempt could not be appealed, therefore it did not qualify as a “sentence”. The Electoral Commission of SA (IEC) is now seeking to appeal the ruling at the Constitutional Court (Source)

• SIU to investigate Water and Sanitation Department. President Cyril Ramaphosa has authorised the Special Investigating Unit to probe allegations of maladministration in the Department of Water and Sanitation amounting to billions of rand, and to recover any financial loss to the government. Projects to be investigated include the five-year “war on leaks” programme that was launched by the presidency in August 2015 and reportedly cost about R3 billion to implement. (Source)