‘Not a change of hometown’: GOOD asks legal team to probe Zille’s Joburg mayoral candidacy

The GOOD party has instructed its legal counsel to examine whether the Democratic Alliance (DA) has contravened any electoral regulations by nominating Helen Zille as the mayoral candidate for Johannesburg. In a recent statement, Brett Herron, the party's secretary-general, clarified that Zille is a resident of Cape Town and that her immediate family remains there.

The party's legal team is examining compliance with sections 7(3) and 8(3) of the Electoral Act. Section 7(3) defines ordinary residence as the home where a person typically resides and regularly returns to after temporary absences. According to Zille's own statements, she has lived in Cape Town for over 40 years, regularly returns there, and does not intend to reside in Johannesburg if she loses the mayoral race.

Section 8(3) mandates that a voter can be registered in only one ward where they are ordinarily resident. Despite being born in Johannesburg, Zille relocated to Johannesburg in September of the previous year. Herron argued that Zille's presence in Johannesburg suggests a temporary absence from Cape Town, not a change of hometown.

The GOOD party will challenge any determination that Zille's candidacy is unlawful in the appropriate legal forum. Additionally, the party will defend its decision to submit only one name on its proportional representation (PR) lists, despite the DA's legal challenge in the Electoral Court against GOOD and several other parties for this decision.

The DA contends that the Municipal Electoral Act and Municipal Structures Act prescribe a minimum number of names on a party list, while the Municipal Structures Act explicitly allows parties to under-estimate their number of eligible candidates upon submission of lists. The GOOD party asserts that its decision is in accordance with the law as written by parliament and not as the DA would prefer it to be.