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A woman casts her ballot during elections.
The Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) in Limpopo has disqualified some candidates from various political parties who intended to contest by-elections at dissolved Thabazimbi Local Municipality.
Twenty-one political parties and five independent candidates will contest the elections next Wednesday.
Provincial Electoral Officer Nkaro Mateta says the disqualified candidates failed to meet requirements.
The council was dissolved last month due to political and administrative instability.
The IEC says a total of 405 candidates from various political parties and five independent candidates will contest the by-elections. 214 are male while the remaining 191 are female.
They will be battling for 24 seats in the council of which 12 are ward councillors and 12 are proportional representation.
Mateta says some were disqualified because they are not residents in Thabazimbi and other are not registered with the IEC.
“There are candidates that are coming from the political parties that were disqualified. One of the reasons is because the person was not registered in the Thabazimbi area. Some of them were registered elsewhere, some of them never registered at all. They wanted to become candidates while they were not registered anywhere in the Republic of South Africa. So, you can’t stand for election if you’re not resident of Thabazimbi.”
VIDEO | The municipality has been under administration.
Registered voters
Mateta says there are more than 50 000 registered voters, and the IEC is ready to process them.
“The Electoral Commission is well prepared to receive over 51 000 registered voters for the by-election in the Thabazimbi Local Municipality on Wednesday, 4 December 2024. The Municipality consists of 12 wards and 57 voting districts, and therefore a by-election will occur in all 12 wards. There are a total of 24 seats for the municipality, of which 12 are ward seats and 12 are proportional representation (PR) seats.”
Mateta says more than 1 300 new voters aged between 18-19 have been registered.
“All contracts and lease agreements for the 57 voting stations have been concluded. Furthermore, we have published the list of addresses of the 57 voting stations that will be used in these by-elections. Significantly, more than 1 300 new voters aged 18-19 who did not participate in the 2024 general elections will also participate for the first time.”
A hung council emerged after the 2021 municipal elections. The ANC garnered 47.4% of the votes and gained eleven seats.
The DA, EFF, FF Plus, Thabazimbi Forum for Service Delivery and Thabazimbi Residents Association shared 52.6% and acquired the remaining 12 seats.
Tensions between political parties led to the election of two parallel councils, each with its own administrative management.
