EFF Has launched an urgent court application against IEC deposit requirement
Economic Freedom Fighters has launched an urgent application at the North Gauteng High Court against The President of SA, the Minister of Home Affaits and the Independent Electoral Commission for an interdict against the imposition of the deposit required to be paid with the submission of a party list in terms of the timetable released yesterday by the IEC.
The amount require by the IEC is in excess of R600 000 broken down into R45 000 per province and 200 000 for Natonal contestation.
All four parties are in the process of exchanging papers which should be finalised by the end of the week. The application has been set down for argument on Tuesday 4 March 2014 in Pretoria.
EFF strongly rejects the imposition of such a high deposit and views it as simply unfair to new entrants. It also serves as a barrier to entry and most importantly it violates the political rights guaranteed in Section 19 of the Constitution. Its ultimate effect is to exclude poor people from exercising the right to stand for office.
This system also unfairly discriminates against new parties and existing parties which receive millions of taxpayers' money from Parliament annually.
Other parties have expressed an interest in joining the application. The second stage of the application will be a constitutional challenge on the validity of the sections of the Electoral Act which empower the IEC to determine and impose the deposit in question on the same grounds of excluding the poor.
This is undemocratic and suppresses the full participation in a democratic society. The expectation of payment delegitimises democracy and undermines Chapter 2 Section 19 of the Constitution Act 108 of 1996.
In essence, EFF rejects the notion that there should be any conditions placed on new entrants that are committed to building the nations' democracy.
Statement issued by the Economic Freedom Fighters, February 27 2014
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