MANY people in Mzansi can’t wait to vote in the upcoming elections on 29 May.
However, a popular businessman in Durban, Sbu Mpisane and others want the elections postponed.
Mpisane, who is Shauwn “Mam’Mkhize” Mkhize’s ex-husband, had his political party, Gap Fixers of South Africa (GFSA), disqualified by the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) from contesting the much-awaited 29 May elections.
His party, formed in 2022 and registered with the IEC on 19 September 2023, allegedly failed to meet requirements set by the IEC for all contesting parties.
Now, his party has joined The Labour of South Africa court bid as amicus curiae (friend of the court) to have the elections postponed by the Constitutional Court.
Mpisane told Daily Sun as much as the date is too close, he hopes the Constitutional Court will postpone the elections.
“We exhausted all IEC internal processes to have our matter resolved. Then, we escalated the matter to the Constitutional Court and are waiting for a court day.
“IEC was unfair to us because it was the IEC system and technical glitches that failed them, and they opted to disqualify us, violating Section 19 of the Constitution,” he said.
Mpisane, the national chairman of GFSA, said initially, the IEC told them they needed 1 000 signatures to qualify to contest the elections nationally and provincially.
“When we achieved that, the IEC opted to change the requirement to 14 000 signatures, and the IEC system failed them. We even hand-delivered the signatures but were not helped. Instead, we were disqualified.
“For now, we’ve joined forces with other small political parties who were also disqualified to fight together to be on the ballot.
“If we fail, we’ll mandate our members about which political party we’ll support during the election,” he said.
Mpisane kept a low profile after he parted ways with his wife Mam’Mkhize in 2018, as their marriage was always in the spotlight.
He came back in the spotlight after he was announced as the chairman of GFSA.
Daily Sun contacted IEC spokeswoman Kate Bapela, and her phone rang and answered.
Email and WhatsApp messages were also sent with no response. Daily Sun.
