Attorney for the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC)‚ Wim Trengrove‚ says the commission cannot make use of address information from Statistics SA because it might not be “reliable”. “If StatsSA is able to do this within months (collect addresses) and is available and willing to assist the IEC‚ why does the IEC need four years to accomplish the same task?” enquired Constitutional Court Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng. “I can merely tell you what they IEC says‚ why it would take them so long. I don't understand StatsSA to have a reliable list of addresses. In fact one knows (they rely) often on aerial photographs and extrapolation of samples. So the suggestion that they have a reliable list of addresses for everyone in the country is not accepted by my client‚” said Mr Trengrove.Mr Trengrove was responding to questions as the commission gave its arguments at the Concourt on Monday.In November last year‚ the Concourt ordered the commission to hold fresh elections in Tlokwe‚ North West‚ after it found that the 2013 by-elections there were not free and fair. This followed a complaint from independent candidates contesting the by-elections who said they were given a voters' roll with addresses missing on it.The court ordered that the commission rectify the issue before holding the elections again.The IEC was meant to hold the elections in February‚ but those were postponed by the Electoral Court‚ which ordered that the commission get the addresses of registered voters‚ because independent candidates had approached it with the same complaint.The IEC then filed an urgent application with the Concourt‚ for clarity on its 2015 judgment‚ saying the Electoral Court had misinterpreted the Concourt's order. The commission had interpreted it as saying that it should get the addresses of voters from after the order of the Concourt not before.He also said the commission's ability to provide a roll with addresses before the upcoming August 3 local government elections would require that the commission increase its resources which would be costly.That would also have an impact on the commission's preparations for the elections.Mr Trengrove said the commission needed at least until the end of 2019 to clean up the roll.The commission has previously said it would not be able to hold the municipal elections if it was expected to get all the addresses for voters.“Are you suggesting that we run the 2019 elections on what might be a defective roll? Does the time extend beyond 2019?” asked Deputy Chief Justice Dikgang Moseneke.“The best estimate is that they will be able to find all the addresses by 2019 and that's why they (the IEC) have asked for time until June 2020‚” Mr Trengrove responded.Earlier Mr Trengrove told the court that prior to December 2003 when the Electoral Amendment Act came into effect‚ the commission was not required to obtain the addresses of voters or even to store them."There was no duty on the IEC to keep those addresses or record after registration‚" he saidTMG Digital/BDlive..