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Johannesburg — A total of 8,651 candidates from 45 political parties are standing for the general elections, the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) said yesterday.
“This is slightly fewer than the 9,117 candidates who appeared on the final lists for the 2009 election,” spokesperson Kate Bapela said in a statement.
“The electoral commission has published the final list of candidates for the May 7 national and provincial elections and has provided candidates with certificates confirming their candidacy.”
There were 2,089 candidates on the national lists, 2,165 on the regional lists and 4,397 on the provincial lists contesting.
The parties were contesting 400 National Assembly seats and 430 provincial legislature seats. Men continued to make up the bulk of candidates with 59.8 percent of the total compared to 40.2 percent women.
“However, gender representation continues to show steady improvement over the years: 1999 (26.76 percent), 2004 (30.65 percent) and 2009 (38.5 percent).”
She said lists in the Western Cape provincial elections showed the greatest gender equity with 43 percent women, the Northern Cape provincial lists were the lowest with 37 percent of women.
The parties with the highest percentage of female candidates were the Keep It Straight and Simple with 100 percent, the African National Congress with 85 percent and the SA Maintenance and Estate Beneficiaries Association with 76.6 percent.
Bapela said in terms of age, candidates over 40 years old comprised 64.86 percent of the total. Candidates under the age of 30 comprised just 11.8 percent.
“However, young candidates have increased by 17 percent since 2009 when just 869 of the 9,117 candidates were under 30 years old.
“In 1999 there were 724 candidates under 30 years old, out of a total of 7,140 candidates (10.1 percent),” Bapela said.
Meanwhile, African National Congress president Jacob Zuma was welcomed to Duduza in the East Rand with songs and cheers by party supporters yesterday.
While his loyal supporters had their fists high in the air, a small group had placards expressing their dissatisfaction with services in their area.
One placard read: “No vote” while the other read “we want you Zuma to come and see our Sefihliwe area in Zamani.”
Residents said they were staying in shacks and had no services in the area.
Nomfundo Samka accused local councillors of only giving jobs to their friends.
“They are only giving jobs to their friends,” she said.
“[The] councillor doesn’t give us feedback. They treat us like dirt,” she said.
Nala street was filled with people as Zuma started his door-to-door campaign. Dressed in a yellow shirt and a leather jacket, Zuma waved to loud ululations.
Police had to fend off a large crowd of people trying to get a glimpse of the president and take photographs of him.
Zuma and provincial chairperson Paul Mashatile, along with other officials, were expected to meet with senior citizens and conduct a walkabout at a minibus taxi rank.
In a related incident, South Africa’s public broadcaster has said it refused to broadcast a campaign message from the Economic Freedom Front (EFF) as it incited violence.
The South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) denied that it was banned because it came from the EFF.
The advert calls for people to “destroy e-Tolls”, a controversial new road tolling system.
The EFF, set up by ex-ANC Youth League leader Julius Malema, is contesting an election for the first time next month.
Malema likened the SABC’s actions to those used by the apartheid government, which censored messages with anti-government sentiment.
“Once you suppress the people contesting elections it means you not ready to give us free and fair elections because unfair coverage leads to unfair elections,” he said in Johannesburg.
However, SABC spokesman Kaiser Kganyago said it was to do with regulations, not politics.
“They submitted it, we looked at it, and we found that we couldn’t put it on air,” Sapa quoted him as saying.
Meanwhile, punches are being thrown at all politicians in a “boxing match” ahead of the general election, EFF leader Julius Malema said yesterday.
“We are in a boxing match. There are going to be punches thrown at all of us,” he said in response to an open letter by Patriotic Alliance leader Gayton McKenzie.
“I shouldn’t be bothered by this. As we come closer to election day it will get worse.”
Malema declined to comment on the contents of the letter. “I have nothing to say . . . I don’t think the matter deserves my attention.”
McKenzie wrote a scathing letter to Malema on Wednesday, describing him as the “biggest thief” he had ever met.
“You get two kinds of politicians in this country — the ones who come from prison and those who must still go to prison. You belong to the latter,” McKenzie wrote. “I may be an ex-thief, but you are a present-day thief. You, particularly you, cannot be calling all white people in this country thieves.”
He claimed Malema’s intention was to bankrupt the country. McKenzie went further to say Malema was a “false prophet”.
“You are the modern-day Nongqawuse,” he wrote. “There was no one there in 1856 to warn our people against that false prophet. Somebody needs to have the courage to warn us against you.”
Nongqawuse was a teenage girl who had a prophecy that the Xhosa in the Eastern Cape should slaughter their cattle, many of which were sick, and not cultivate crops, because the oppressive British settlers were going to be swept into the sea and their ancestors would rise bringing new healthy cattle and crops.
The prophecy did not come true, leading to extreme hardship in the area.
McKenzie wrote: “I’m not scared of you. But I am scared of what will happen to this country if our young people don’t realise what you are before it is too late.”
Malema, faces fraud and corruption charges related to a R52m contract awarded to On-Point Engineering. The State alleged that Malema substantially benefited from the tender payment to On-Point, using it to buy a farm and a Mercedes-Benz. — Sapa
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