South Africa’s ruling party, the African National Congress (ANC) has restated that it did not influence the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) to accommodate a resubmission of its candidates.
During the party’s post-national executive committee lekgotla briefing on Tuesday, deputy secretary-general, Jessie Duarte, said that the ANC never sought to lobby anyone to extended the election timetable.
The party has been thrown a lifeline and will now be able to rectify its initial mistake of failing to register candidates for 93 municipalities in the upcoming local government elections.
Duarte said that some in the opposition were attacking the ANC so that they could benefit from it at the polls.
The IEC is also facing fierce criticism and possible legal action over its decision to amend its timetable.
The commission was ordered to push ahead with the polls by the Constitutional Court.