FF Plus’s legal action to have BLF de-registered continues

4 April 2019

The legal action undertaken by the FF Plus to have the BLF de-registered as a political party will be followed through despite the fact that the party first withdrew its application that it brought before the Electoral Court on the 29th of March due to a technical reason.

In its place, an appeal has now been filed with the Electoral Commission so as to halt the BLF.

The FF Plus believes that the merit of the case is strong seeing as the Electoral Commission Act prohibits the chief electoral officer to register a party that excludes people from joining the party based on race, ethnicity and skin colour.

There is, however, a technical juristic argument that could sink the case. Thus, the FF Plus has decided to rather file an appeal with the Commission and give it seven days to decide on the matter.

Depending on the outcome of the appeal and should the Commission drag its feet with making a decision, the FF Plus will urgently bring the application before the Electoral Court in Bloemfontein again.

The time line for the upcoming elections forces the Commission to make a decision regarding the appeal as soon as possible.

The FF Plus brought the matter to the attention of the chief electoral officer on the 17th of January this year already. The IEC, however, only responded to the FF Plus's letters in this regard on the 13th of March.

It was only then that it came to light that the constitution submitted to the chief electoral officer by the BLF is the same as the one that can be found on their website and that it excludes people from becoming members based on their race.

The FF Plus will not give up the fight against the BLF's racism and racial polarisation. Being in contempt of South Africa's Constitution and our electoral legislation may not be tolerated.

Issued by Pieter Groenewald, FF Plus leader, 4 April 2019