POWER will fall to the Speakers of the municipalities who will continue to monitor the functioning of the councils, pending the official announcement of the local government election results. This is so that the municipalities can continue to work pending these results.
According to the law, the election results must be announced seven days after the election.
Mr. Lance Joel of the organizationThe South African Local Government Association (Salga), told the Speakers of KwaZulu-Natal municipalities, at a meeting in the Provincial Legislature in Pietermaritzburg, on Friday, that the Speakers will continue to work until the election results are announced.
“You can even call an election meeting on the day of the election. If a crisis situation is identified in the country, the municipalities must continue to deliver the needs to the public, work will not stop because there is an election,” he said.
He pointed out that the term of the municipal leadership in this country ends on November 3, 2026. It is expected that the election will be called between November and January next year. According to the existing election plans, the preparations for the election are continuing even though the date has not yet been announced.
The MEC for Governance and Indigenous Affairs in the country, Mr. Velenkosini Hlabisa, the President of the IFP, is the one who has the power to announce the date of the election. Joel said that one of the things they are preparing is to talk to all the councilors to prepare them to face the situation if they do not return to their positions.
“A number of councilors will not return to their positions after the election. We are preparing them, we are talking to all of them so that they can prepare for the possibility that they may not return after the election. Some of them will not have a salary because they will not be enjoying themselves anymore, so they must be ready for this,” he said.
He said there are other employees in the municipalities, whose contracts depend on council officials, who will not return after the election.
“These are all things that must be planned in advance. There are reports that must be made about the plans made by the leaders present in the municipalities, which will be passed on to the leadership that will come in after the election,” said Joel.
He said the first meeting of the municipalities must be held in 14 days, after the announcement of the election results. There is no longer the issue of people who do not live in their wards, to vote in other wards when there is a by-election. It is always a topic of discussion in political parties about the relocation of people who do not live in that area, to vote elsewhere when this election is held.
The head of the electoral commission in the province, Dr Khulekani Zulu, said that before the election they release the list of voters in that area so that parties can complain if something is not right.
“Parties have the right to file a complaint so that we can look into it as a commission if there are people who do not live in that ward. They must bring evidence of this so that we can investigate,” said Zulu.
It turns out that in August, the parties must start the nomination process to vote for them in the elections.