The applicant, Mr Louis Petrus Liebenberg, sought to contest the 29 May 2024 national elections as an independent candidate for regional seats in the National Assembly in four regions: Free State, Gauteng, Limpopo and Mpumalanga. In terms of section 31B(3)(a)(i) of the Electoral Act 73 of 1998, as read in by the Constitutional Court in One Movement SA, an independent candidate must submit, by the prescribed deadline, lists of at least 1 000 verified voter supporters for each region contested. Although Mr Liebenberg submitted supporter information electronically and in hard copy, the Electoral Commission’s audit revealed that he had only 428 verified supporter signatures for Limpopo and 574 for Mpumalanga, falling short of the statutory threshold, while meeting the requirement for Free State and Gauteng. As a result, his name was removed from the candidate lists for Limpopo and Mpumalanga. He applied to the Electoral Court to review and set aside his disqualification, contending that he had complied with the Act or should have been afforded an opportunity to correct any shortcomings.
The application was dismissed, and the applicant remained disqualified from contesting the National Assembly elections in the Limpopo and Mpumalanga regions. No order as to costs was made.
The case confirms the strict, peremptory nature of the voter-supporter requirements for independent candidates introduced following the Constitutional Court’s decision in One Movement SA. It underscores that failure to submit the required number of verified supporter signatures by the electoral timetable deadline results in automatic disqualification, with no discretion on the part of the Electoral Commission to condone or remedy such failure. The judgment reinforces principles of electoral certainty, administrative legality, and equal treatment of candidates, and clarifies the limited scope of section 31C of the Electoral Act.