In a game-changing move for elections in South Africa, the country’s Constitutional Court has agreed to a new election blueprint. On Thursday, the court ruled that the Electoral Act, as it stands, is unconstitutional because it excludes independent candidates from participating in both national and provincial elections.
The decision which comes in a year after it started out, was motivated by a non-partisan movement, the New Nation Movement (NNM). The movement had previously lodged a case that was eventually dismissed by the Western Cape High Court in 2019, arguing that their rights had been infringed on as citizens as they could not stand for public office as independent candidates for national and provincial elections. However, following the dismissal of the case months before South Africa’s polls, NNM alongside the Indigenous First Nation Advocacy SA pursued the case to the Constitutional Court.
Joining a Political Party should be a Choice, Not a Requirement
Before delivering the court’s ruling, Justice Mbuyiseli Madlanga made it clear that a conscious choice not to form or join a political party was as much a political choice as was a choice to form or join a political party. The freedom not to associate at all was also a fundamental right.
“Choosing to associate is an exercise of the right to freedom of association. Choosing to dissociate from that which you earlier associated with is also an exercise of that right. Choosing not to associate at all too is an exercise of the right. A restraint on any of these choices is a negation of the right,” he said.
Finally, the Constitutional Court ruled that: “The Electoral Act 73 of 1998 is unconstitutional to the extent that it requires that adult citizens may be elected to the National Assembly and Provincial Legislatures only through their membership of political parties.”
The court however suspended the declaration for 24 months, giving parliament and the Electoral Commission of SA time to fix the electoral system ahead of the next set of elections that follows.
Speaking to Reuters, Bongani Bongo, who chairs the parliamentary committee responsible for the Electoral Commission in South Africa, said parliament was studying the judgment.
