WALLIS AJ disinclined to make a great effort to vote in the by-election as well. This points against an order setting aside the by-elections. But again it cannot be decisive. The voters in these wards were deprived of the free and fair election to which they were entitled. The candidates were deprived of the right to participate in a free and fair election. Saying to them that in any event they will have an opportunity in May to elect fresh representatives and stand for election will not redress that. That is a right they already have. To merge it with the need to hold fresh by-elections is effectively to deprive the voters of their initial right to a free and fair election. [107] But there is a statutory reason why the impending national municipal election does not provide a ground for not setting aside these by-elections and ordering that fresh by-elections be held. It is that the proximity of national municipal elections to a possible by-election is dealt with in section 25 of the Local Government: Municipal Structures Act 117 of 1998 (Structures Act). In terms of section 25(1)(b) a by-election must be held if a court sets aside the election in a ward. The municipal manager is obliged in terms of section 25(3)(b), after consulting the IEC, to call and set a date for the by-election which is within 90 days of the court’s order. If the municipal manager fails to do that then the MEC for local government of the province must do so instead, but within the same time parameters.85 This does not interrupt the term of a municipal council.86 [108] Section 25(6) provides: “(6) The municipal manager of a municipality may not call a by-election in terms of subsection (3) if— (a) the next election of all municipal councils must be held— 85 Section 25(4) of the Structures Act. 86 Section 25(5) of the Structures Act. 55