DURBAN - Freedom Under Law has described the National Freedom Party’s call for by-elections to be scrapped as an attempt to undermine South Africa’s young democracy.
The NFP had asked for the discontinuation of by-elections following the recent murders of two prominent political leaders in KwaZulu-Natal.
Speaker of the Amajuba District Municipality, Reginald Ndima, was gunned down on Saturday, the day slain eThekwini ward 103 councillor Minenhle Mkhize was to be buried exactly a week after he was also shot dead at his home.
The NFP’s secretary-general, Canaan Mdletshe, said the situation in municipalities was “clearly out of control and something must be done urgently”.
He said the NFP was proposing a legislative change in the by-elections as a preventive measure.
“As part of a preventative measure, we are proposing that whenever a councillor has been murdered, no by-election must be held.
“Instead, a political party that a murdered councillor represented or belonged to must be allowed to nominate a councillor within the organisation,” said Mdletshe.
He said councillors were “under siege” and that Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana should sponsor the protection of officials this financial year.
“The fact is councillors are under siege. They have become easy targets and it has to stop. As a country, we have reached a stage where we have to come up with all mechanisms to fight this scourge,” said Mdletshe.
Freedom Under Law chairperson, Judge Johann Kriegler, dismissed the NFP’s suggestion, saying this should not be the reaction to alleged political murders.
“Scrapping by-elections would undermine the very heart of our dearly bought young democracy. The fundamental starting point of any political debate must surely be that state power belongs to the people. Without the support of the general body of its citizens, no democracy could survive.
“People express their support through regular, free and fair elections. Accordingly, any suggestion that elections should be scrapped is directed at the obligation of the state to ensure regular elections and is aimed at the very foundation of our country.
“In any event, pure practically: There is no earthly basis for saying that cancelling by-elections would put a stop to political assassinations. Unless, of course, you’re actually saying we no longer want to have the democratic state we created by our Constitution,” said Kriegler.
Earlier this month, the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) announced that four wards in KZN would be up for the taking in the upcoming by-elections set to take place on Wednesday.
In one of the wards, the NFP candidate Dumisani Qwabe was killed before the elections in November.
Thabani Ngirwa, of the IEC in KwaZulu-Natal, said the commission would co-ordinate a plan to monitor places that are most likely to experience violence.
Daily News