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ActionSA has noted the outcome of the IEC’s deliberations of the Section 14(4) Report tabled by Justice Moseneke, as presented to the national Party Liaison Committee (PLC) meeting today. 

The decision to adhere to the recommendations of the report, including postponing the registration weekend and approaching the courts to delay the elections, is responsible under present circumstances. 

We remain unapologetic in our view that the present circumstances are a product of the inadequate vaccination levels and insufficient leadership by the IEC to generate public confidence to vote through the communication of decisive measures for safe voting. 

Our primary submission to the PLC meeting this morning was to pressure the IEC must urgently confirm its position on ensuring that no further delay past the end of February will be considered. Already the public responses by political parties demonstrate the concern raised by Justice Moseneke – that political parties have deeply vested interests. 

The risk that must be averted constitutionally is a government not meeting its vaccination targets, which spares the governing party in government the accountability that comes with their failures. 

The answer in this regard, must lie in two key areas. 

Firstly, the Courts forcing our government to deliver on their planned levels of vaccinations which are more than adequate to reach the targeted community immunity. 

Secondly, the IEC must play open cards in respect of the measures it plans to implement and the extent to which these measures will be communicated to provide confidence to the South African people that they will be able to exercise their right to vote without jeopardising their right to health. 

Now is the time for the IEC to provide the leadership envisioned in our Constitution. The endless consultation must end, and the IEC must approach the courts in a decisive manner which adheres the recommendations to the Moseneke Report. Above all else, our country must receive the much-needed certainty about the future of its democratic timelines so that this critical cornerstone of democracy is not left to vested political interests. 

Issued by ActionSA