The court was hearing an application for leave to appeal by the Electoral Commission of SA (IEC) against a judgment of the Electoral Court in February‚ which postponed by-elections that were to be held in Tlokwe‚ North West. Independent candidates participating in those elections had challenged the validity of the certified voters’ roll in the Electoral Court on the basis that it contained names of approximately 4‚000 voters without their addresses. The Electoral Court‚ relying on a judgment by the Constitutional Court passed on November 30 last year‚ held that to hold elections where the voters’ roll did not have the addresses would not be free and fair. A judgment by the Constitutional Court requiring that the voter's roll should have address for all voters would affect the running of the local government elections.Counsel for the commission‚ Wim Trengove SC‚ told the court that the IEC would not be able to obtain addresses for all people on the voter's roll in time for the August elections‚ but would be able to do so for the 2019 general election.Trengove said the commission had recorded all the addresses of the voters in its system since the law that required the commission to do so had come into effect in December 2003.Trengove said‚ however‚ some of the addresses were lost as a result of mishaps beyond the control of the IEC‚ such as a fire at a warehouse containing voters’ addresses. Trengove told the court that there were 24 million people registered on the voters' roll. While 8 million had addresses‚ 8 million addresses were incomplete or were not properly recorded‚ while 8 million did not have addresses at all.He said the absence of a voter’s address on the roll did not imply that the registration of that voter was irregular.Counsel for the ANC Gilbert Marcus SC said the complaint which served before the Electoral Court was that the voters’ roll did not record addresses of some 4‚160 voters. That appeared to be the only issue that was advanced by the candidates‚ Marcus said. “There is no duty on IEC to provide addresses“In our submission‚ the mere absence of an address cannot in itself constitute an irregularity‚" Marcus said. Counsel for the independent candidates Andre Bosman said the purpose of the law was to ensure that each voter had to vote in the district or ward where he ordinarily resided.Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng told Bosman that the IEC had informed the court that none of the 17 agencies which had been solicited were in a position to assist in the process of ascertaining the voter's addresses."How long does it ordinarily take StatsSA to conduct a census‚" Mogoeng asked.Bosman replied that it was usually done in a few months.The DA opposed the application by the commission.The application continues...