
FILE PHOTO: President Jacob Zuma greets Democratic Alliance leader Helen Zille during a visit to the IEC results operaton centre in Pretoria on Thursday evening, 8 May. PICTURE: Sapa
JOHANNESBURG: It’s official, the 2021 local government elections will be held on 1 November.
The local government elections will be held on 1 November 2021, Cogta Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma announced on Wednesday.
She said that the date was determined through consultations with the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC).
“We’ve come to the determination that this year’s local government elections will be held on the 1st of November 2021. This is in accordance with the Constitution, read with the Municipal Structures Act, as the Act prescribes that the election must be held within 90 days from the end of the five-year term of local government.”
The decision follows an order of the Constitutional Court, which directed the IEC to hold elections between 27 October and 1 November this year.
The November polls will be the sixth local government election since the transition to democracy in 1994.
Dlamini-Zuma explained why 1 November was the ideal date: “We could have chosen the original proclaimed date of the 27th of October but we have chosen the most outer date as the IEC indicated that it would need as much time as possible to prepare for the elections.”
The minister also cautioned the public about the extraordinary time during which the upcoming elections would take place, given the COVID-19 pandemic.
The proclamation of the elections will take place on 20 September, after the voter registration weekend on 18 and 19 September.