The Constitutional Court has declined to hear an urgent application in respect of the signature requirements for unrepresented parties contesting the upcoming general election on 29 May. This comes after IEC officials on Monday chided political parties complaining about the signature threshold and submission timeframe.

South Africa's apex court has declined to hear an urgent application brought by the Rivonia Circle and Mmusi Maimane's Build One SA (Bosa) regarding signature requirements for unrepresented political parties contesting the 2024 national and provincial elections.

Bosa and the Rivonia Circle approached the Constitutional Court over election signature requirements on 20 December, citing as respondents President Cyril Ramaphosa, the Speaker of the National Assembly, the chair of the National Council of Provinces, the minister of home affairs, the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) and all political parties registered for the elections for the National Assembly.

In December, the Constitutional Court struck out the Electoral Amendment Act's provision requiring that to stand, independent candidates needed to obtain signatures equivalent to 15% of the votes required to win a seat in the previous election in the province in which they intended to register.

The ConCourt ruled that independent candidates required 1,000 signatures of registered voters to register with the IEC. However, the court did not scrap the 15% requirement for parties which are not represented in any of the legislatures.

On Monday, the court decided not to enrol the matter for an urgent hearing.

"The applicants have failed...