IFP congress expected to vote against November 1 poll

CAPE TOWN July 17 Sapa

Delegates to the Inkatha Freedom Party national congress in
Ulundi, KwaZulu/Natal, at the weekend are likely to vote for the
postponement of the November 1 local government elections, party
sources said on Monday.

Factors influencing the delegates' decision would include the
still-unresolved Durban boundary dispute and the "shambolic state"
of the voters' rolls in KwaZulu/Natal and other provinces.

This was echoed by national local elections task group
co-ordinator Vic Milne who said elections were impossible in either
rural and metropolitan areas of the province.

However, IFP national election co-ordinator Senzo Mfayela said
there were many within the party who felt the elections should go
ahead as scheduled because they feared further delays could
increase voter apathy.

Mfayela confirmed the three-day congress, which starts on
Friday, would take a decision on the possible postponement of the
elections without the guidance of the IFP national council which
had not made any firm recommendations on the issue.

The poll will also be under the spotlight when the African
National Congress' national executive committee meets at the
weekend. The organisation has already asked the cabinet to
intervene in boundary disputes in Cape Town, Durban and
Johannesburg.

National executive committee member Gill Marcus said she did
not want to pre-empt the outcome of the meeting, adding there was
still consensus on the need for democratic local government
structures to be set up as soon as possible.

Both the executive committee meeting and the IFP congress will
take place ahead of a special cabinet meeting next Wednesday when a
formal decision on the elections is expected.

Milne said that in addition to deciding on postponing or
staggering the elections, the cabinet also needed to develop
mechanisms to resolve boundary disputes.

Cabinet secretary Jakes Gerwel said on Monday he had not yet
received a formal request to put the election issue on the cabinet
agenda, which had still to be finalised.

However, he would be "very surprised" if it was not discussed.

"I cannot predict that a decision will be taken about the
(election) date but important discussions will take place."

He confirmed the cabinet had originally been due to meet next
on August 2, but that it had been decided to move this forward to
July 26 after a planned "bosberaad" was cancelled.

He dismissed speculation that this had been done because of the
urgency surrounding the problems besetting the poll.

A range of issues needed the cabinet's attention, Gerwel said.