PAC calls for postponement of local government elections

JOHANNESBURG July 20 Sapa

By Grant Robbins

The Pan Africanist Congress on Thursday called for the
postponement of the November 1 local government elections and
rejected President Nelson Mandela's suggestion that elections would
go ahead in some provinces and delayed in others.

Speaking at a Johannesburg news briefing, PAC deputy president
Dr Motsoko Pheko said meeting the November 1 elections deadline
would disregard agreed timeframes.

"It would not be in the national interest as the entire local
electoral process would be vunerable to a challenge in court,"
Pheko said.

The PAC said prescribed deadlines had not been met.

Wards and number of seats which were to have been proclaimed by
July 18, to allow for the division of voters' rolls into wards by
July 31, had not been carried out.

"It is now impossible to divide voters' rolls into wards and
voting stations by August 14 when a notice is to be published
calling for nominations. Voters' rolls will not be ready," said
Pheko.

The country could not afford a repeat of the April 1994 general
election where hasty decisions were made at the Kempton Park talks.

The PAC, said Pheko, rejected staggering local government
elections, because this would open them to abuse.

He said Gauteng, Western Cape and KwaZulu/Natal had still not
resolved demarcation problems. These three provinces constituted
half of the country's voting population.

To suggest six provinces were ready was misleading, given that
in rural structures, little if any progress had been achieved.

"People have positioned themselves and do not want to lose
gained ground by accepting new demarcation of boundaries."

Pheko said the PAC called for extending voter registration to
allow people who would be 18 years old after November 1 to
register, and for the government to resolve political disputes in
provinces.

Intensive voter education had to be embarked upon because the
local elections were more complex than last year's general
election.

The Democratic Party on Thursday joined the opposition by the
National Party, the Inkatha Freedom Party, the PAC and the Freedom
Front to stagger local government elections.

DP chief whip Douglas Gibson said in a statement that Mandela
had overlooked the constitutional clause that stipulates elections
must take place throughout the country on the same day.

A constitutional amendment required a two-thirds majority in
Parliament, which the ANC fell short of, Gibson said.

Mandela said on Wednesday that local elections would go ahead
on November 1 in six of the provinces, and that elections in the
three other regions could be postponed.

"Mr Mandela has not approached the DP to support a
constitutional amendment; I wonder if he has procured the support
of other parties," said Gibson.