The Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) said that it has received 40 representations of political parties on why they shouldn’t be deregistered from its political party register.
According to the IEC, the said parties failed to renew their registration by the end of January this year.
As the country’s registrar of political parties, the IEC ten days ago issued a notice of cancellation of registration of inactive political parties in the country.
The electoral body warned that 192 inactive parties had until 24 March 2025 to make “compelling representations on why they should remain on the IEC political party register.”
The IEC Deputy Communication Manager, David Mandaha, said that the commission will make a final decision in due course.
“Following the cut-off date on Monday, 24 March 2025, for the 192 inactive political parties that received notices to make their submissions on the cancellation of their registration, the Electoral Commission received more than 40 submissions.
The Commission is currently evaluating these submissions, and a determination will be announced in due course,” said Mandaha.
Most notably, amongst them is one of the country’s oldest parties and ANC alliance partner, the South African Communist Party (SACP).
During the initial announcement the commission said that there are 609 registered political parties of which 383 are registered on a national level while the balance of 226 are either registered provincially or on municipal level.
“All affected parties have in terms of section 17 of the Electoral Commission Act 51 of 1996 been informed and given due notice, in writing, of the intention to cancel their registration,” read the statement from the IEC.
The affected parties are not represented in any legislative body, they have not contested general elections since they were registered or had not renewed their registration by 31 January 2025.
The commission has reiterated that political parties registered on its database continues to enjoy several benefits.
“There are a number of benefits that accrue from registration as a party.
These are, among others, that the political party is entitled to protection by the Commission of its full name, abbreviation of its name, and its logo or symbol,” concluded the statement.
