[full]Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) leader Julius Malema said that elections in South Africa are “only for the rich” after the party’s bid for an interdict against having to pay a deposit to the IEC was dismissed with costs on Tuesday.
A political party has to pay the IEC R200 000 to contest the national elections and R45 000 for each province it runs in. The EFF claimed that the cost to register was simply too much and it wanted to see it reduced considerably.
News24 reports that Malema told supporters that the ruling proved his earlier statements that only the rich were entitled to take part in the country’s elections.
“We told you that the role of the courts is to reinforce capitalism. The court has just confirmed that. The court says elections are only for the rich… they must be ashamed, and shame on the justice system of South Africa,” he said.
Malema said that the court case was merely the “beginning of many battles to start” and said the party would next be looking to have a forensic report said to be implicating IEC chair Pansy Tlakula released without delay.
The EFF leader was referring to a forensic investigation commissioned by the IEC that reportedly found that Tlakula and IEC commissioners did not act with due diligence when they secured a lease for the IEC headquarters in Pretoria.
“What if after the elections the report confirms that indeed there was corruption and the chairperson of the IEC was involved?” he asked.
“We don’t want our elections to be presided over by people who have a credibility crisis.” [/full]