Political parties have expressed mixed feelings ahead of the 2024 general elections.
The IEC on Tuesday launched the elections in Midrand announcing it was now waiting for President Cyril Ramaphosa to proclaim a date.
The term of the sixth parliament is coming to an end in May and the constitution allows for a 90 day window before an election is held.
While the likes of DA, Action SA, Al Jamah and Patriotic Alliance welcomed the announcement by the IEC, the EFF and the African Transformation Movement had serious misgivings.
EFF Secretary General Marshall Dlamini is convinced President Cyril Ramaphosa will use the power to determine an election date to somehow assist the ANC’s campaign at everyone else’s expense.
“We don’t want to wait. Cyril must just give us a date so we can prepare with certainty otherwise we are aware that the ANC will know first and that he’s going to try and use this to put them in some kind of advantage. He must just announce the election date now,” said Dlamini.
ATM Leader Vuyo Zungula wants a complete overhaul of the IEC’s staff complement claiming that most of the current team are ANC loyalists.
“ We have a problem that the elections are still run by Sadtu teachers who are aligned to the ANC. We all remember how one teacher voted more than 20 times in the last elections. We are not happy with this,” said Zungula.