Media Statement
30 March 2022
FAN achieves vital victory for free and fair elections and electoral integrity
The North West High Court on Wednesday 30 March 2022 handed down a ruling in favour of the Freedom Advocacy Network (FAN) and the Forum For Democrats (FFD), a local political party in Ramotshere Moiloa Local Municipality. In terms of the court order, the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) will give up one of its council seats in favour of the FFD, remedying an electoral discrepancy that led to an incorrect allocation of council seats.
The Electoral Commission of South Africa found on 8 December 2021 that the number of ballot papers cast in favour of the EFF at a voting station in the municipality was 19. However, when the results were recorded in the commission’s database, the tally was erroneously given as “191”. The IEC said that, as a result, the EFF was erroneously allocated an additional 172 proportional representation (PR) votes.
Judge A H Petersen of the North West High Court held that South Africa’s constitutional representative institutions must accurately reflect the proportional representational results as independently determined by the Electoral Commission of South Africa.
Said FAN Operations and Advocacy Manager Tiego Thotse: “Had this error not been corrected the council would continue to have been unlawfully constituted and all decisions it would have taken would have been illegitimate and ripe for court challenge. Thankfully the court has intervened to correct this poor and moreover unlawful state of affairs, in a small but significant way, bolstering South Africans’ faith in constitutional democracy.”
FAN will continue the fight to correct errors in election results that undermine public confidence and trust in our electoral system and will ensure that no South African is disenfranchised due to lazy bureaucrats and fear-mongering political parties. The #FreedomToLEAD of South African voters is worth fighting for.
Court judgement available here.
For media enquiries, please contact:
Tiego Thotse
FAN Operations and Advocacy Manager
Cell: +27 68 092 3035
Hermann Pretorius
Director at Freedom Advocacy Network
Cell: +27 79 875 4290
www.f-an.net
