ActionSA in dispute over ballot paper

WITH less than two weeks before the local government elections, ActionSA will be back in the Electoral Court on Thursday as the party fights to have its name on the ballot paper.

The wrangle between ActionSA and the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) ensued when it emerged that the IEC’s draft ballot papers did not have ActionSA’s name, but only the party’s logo.

The party, led by Herman Mashaba, yesterday filed its final 35 page replying affidavit with the Electoral Court.

ActionSA has candidates in six municipalities across the country – Johannesburg, Tshwane, Ekurhuleni, eThekwini, Newcastle and KwaDukuza – but only its logo and not its name appears on the ballot paper prepared for the November 1 local government elections.

According to the affidavit, the IEC’s objection to ActionSA’s application reads that the upper-bound of the contention is that “ActionSA elected not to register an abbreviated version of its name.

“In doing so, (so the contention goes), ActionSA itself decided to exclude its name from the ballot paper for the November 1 ward elections. The commission can therefore not include ActionSA on the ballot paper because ActionSA is also not registered as an abbreviation.”

A second objection was that the commission designed the ballot as it was empowered to do by the Municipal Act.

The IEC’s third submission was that there were other political parties whose names were also not included on the ballot paper. “It would therefore be unfair for the court to give ActionSA the relief that it seeks in those circumstances,” the affidavit read.

The final objection was that even if ActionSA was correct, the remedy that it seeks is not just and equitable.

Another matter which the party raised in its affidavit included the IEC’s claims that it would be impossible to remedy the ballot paper due to time, cost and logistical considerations.