Home News ‘We’re trying not to take it personally, but we’ve been very unlucky’ – Michael Beaumont on ActionSA’s IEC mishaps

‘We’re trying not to take it personally, but we’ve been very unlucky’ – Michael Beaumont on ActionSA’s IEC mishaps

by Zahid Jadwat

JOHANNESBURG – ActionSA is trying not to take the party’s challenges with the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) personally, according to a senior member of the party.

 

Speaking to Salaamedia, ActionSA’s national chairperson Michael Beaumont said that the party’s mishaps in the build up to the 2021 local government elections are  seen as “unlucky” occurences, the latest one being the party’s name being ommitted from the ballot paper.

 

“We’re trying not to take it personally, but I guess the other way of looking is we’ve been very, very unlucky,” he said.
 
 
ActionSA, founded by Herman Mashaba, is contesting elections for the first time since its founding in 2020.
 
The party’s initial registration attempt was refused on the basis of a perceived similarity to an existing political party and the use of the South African flag in its logo. Its candidates for the 2021 elections were accidentally ommitted from the candidate list, and now its name has been ommitted from the ballot paper.
 
Whilst the IEC says the ommission was as a result of ActionSA’s failure to submit a name, the party has approached the Electoral Court – on an urgent basis – to review the IECs decision to exclude its name from the ballot paper.

“The absence of the abbreviated name of ActionSA on the ward ballots is because, at the point of registering as a party, ActionSA elected not to register an abbreviated name or acronym,” sad IEC spokesperson Kate Bapela.

 

Mashaba argued the party doesn’t have an abbreviated name because its full name was already compliant with the IEC’s eight-character limit on abbreviated party names and thus could always be used in full.

 
Inayet Wadee spoke to Michael Beaumont, national chairperson of ActionSA, on News & Views. Watch the full discussion here:

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