The government has been warned not to go ahead with local government elections scheduled for late October, as the country is expected to be in the grip of the fourth wave of the Covid-19 pandemic.
This was according to Professor Shabir Madhi of the University of the Witwatersrand and Dr Fareed Abdullah, the head of the SA National Aids Council.
They were speaking at public hearings led by former Deputy Chief Justice, Dikgang Moseneke, into whether local elections should be held, given the current Covid-19 situation.
Said Abdullah: ‘We need to see something substantial, on a scale we have never seen before with vaccine rollout if we want talk about elections in the near future — and even under those circumstances I don’t think October is anywhere a possibility.’ This sentiment was echoed by Madhi who agreed that the election could only be held if far more vulnerable people had been vaccinated.
At-risk people are those above 60 and those with co-morbidities such as diabetes.
The two medical experts agreed that the fourth wave was likely to be in October, as the various waves of the disease in South Africa had so far been six months apart.
However, there is currently no constitutional mechanism to postpone elections, with elections for various legislative bodies (whether the National Assembly or the various provincial legislatures or municipal councils) having to be held within five years and three months of the previous elections. The last local government election was held in early August 2016, meaning that the next election cannot be held later than early November this year.
Constitutional law expert, Pierre de Vos, has warned against postponing the election, saying it would be a ‘grave mistake’ to do so. He also argued that in the remaining time available it would likely not be possible to amend the Constitution to allow for a postponement.
The last remaining by-elections before the October election were due to be held yesterday but were postponed because of the current Covid-19 situation.