Elections cannot be free and fair under these conditions

24 June 2016 - 10:36 By The Times Editorial

The most fiercely contested elections in our history are seven weeks away and hopes that they will be free, fair and peaceful are beginning to look increasingly unrealistic. The violence that erupted in the capital this week over the ANC's mayoral candidate for Tshwane has been shocking in its scale and intensity. So far, the number of people killed has risen to five, damage to private and government property has been colossal, roads have been barricaded, and businesses and state departments have closed early.After a belated and at first hopelessly inadequate response, the police do finally seem to be getting on top of the mayhem and have made scores of arrests by flooding flash points, from Hammanskraal in the north to Atteridgeville in the south, with officers.But the standoff between rival ANC factions has not been addressed and tensions remain. How can anything resembling normal campaigning - by the ANC or the opposition parties, which are challenging its dominance in major cities - possibly take place in the metro?Disconcertingly, violence over ANC election lists appears also to have broken out in Brits, in North West, and in recent weeks there have been reports of no-go areas for opposition parties in ANC strongholds in parts of KwaZulu-Natal and at some hostels.Schooling - let alone electioneering - has not been possible in large parts of Vuwani, in Limpopo, where about 20 schools were razed by protesters at the beginning of last month over a municipal demarcation wrangle.The problems are immense but there is still much that political parties, the police and the Independent Electoral Commission can do to save the polls.A good place to start would be for parties to expel members who resort to violence.Serious contraventions of the Electoral Code are punishable by jail and fines, even disqualification from contesting the polls.This is the time to start enforcing the code...

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