New Report Raises The Question: Is the Independent Electoral Commission Ready To Conduct A Free And Fair Election In 2014?
Cape Town, 19 March 2014: A second investigation into the procurement of offices by the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) from a company connected to the chair of the Commission, Pansy Tlakula, has validated the earlier report by the Office of the Public Protector which found that Tlakula had acted improperly to secure the space.
In addition, the offices space secured, according to a report in The Times, were larger than what is required and rented at above market rates.
The same report names African National Congress members as co-directors of the company which has a stake in the business from which space was leased.
Two other IEC officials have been named in the report for their role in actively managing the procurement process - Norman du Plessis and Stephen Langtry.
"With the eyes of the nation fixed on the release of the Nkandla report today, it would be easy to miss this report which potentially has great implications for the IEC's ability to manage a free and fair election on the 7th May," says Agang SA leader Dr Mamphela Ramphele.
The election will be the most closely contested in the history of our young democracy. For the first time in twenty years, the ANC is under severe pressure and is increasingly desperate to hold on to power. The governing African National Congress (ANC) faces challenges in the May poll that it has not previously had to overcome. Its traditional election machinery is stalling, with the African National Congress Youth League (ANCYL) and the Congress of South Africa Trade Unions (COSATU) mere shadows of their former selves, the decision of the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA) to withdraw electoral support from the ANC and begin the process of starting up a new party, and widespread discontent with President Zuma and his policies that are being demonstrated through widespread protests - there have been almost 3 000 in the last three months alone.
"South Africans have been rightly proud of the track record of the IEC over the last two decades that has earned it respect far and wide in the global community. Our multi-party democracy can only be stronger if the IEC remains beyond reproach. These reports, together with recent events in Tlokwe, where there are allegations of ANC vote-rigging, should ensure that citizens of this country do not take for granted the IEC's ability to ensure a free and fair election," says Ramphele.
"Agang SA demands that independent monitors should be deployed at electoral stations across the country, and that teachers, who have in the past been deployed to manage these stations and who are members of the South African Democratic Trade Union (SADTU), which is a COSATU affiliate organization and part of the ANC governing alliance, be removed from this role. There is an inherent conflict of interest in SADTU members operating as electoral officers in a multi-party election process. In addition, when do they do their primary duties if they play the electoral officer role that demands so much attention to detail?" says Ramphele.
"Along with other parties, we have raised a number of matters that are concerning and have asked for discussions with the IEC which has not yet responded," says Ramphele.
Among the questions put to the IEC are: who has won the tender to print ballot papers and the basis for their selection; whether the ballots have serial numbers; what security exists to ensure non-tampering with ballots; under what circumstances are extra ballots printed, stored, and distributed to voting stations?
The IEC should also spell out, says Ramphele, how it intends to protect the election against potential voter fraud and should identify the auditing firm contracted to monitor the election as early as possible from the printing of ballots, their storage, choice of electoral officers, allocation of ballots, choice of Voting Stations, counting at the Voting Stations, posting of results on the doors of Voting Stations and tallying of all votes in the presence of all contesting political parties.
"Political Parties need to have sufficient time to engage with the IEC to ensure the required checks and balances are in place, so we are anxiously waiting for the IEC to confirm a meeting with all parties," says Ramphele.
"Ït is going to be crucial to these elections that we motivate for and get national scrutiny of this election from independent and international election monitors who can monitor behaviour such as the use of cell phones by political party activists to intimidate or bribe voters into taking photos of their completed ballot paper in exchange for rewards for voting the right way," says Ramphele.
At stake, says Ramphele, is the integrity of the election which forms the bedrock of South Africa's emerging democracy that struggle heroes fought and died for.
Statement issued by Mark Peach, Director of Communication - Agang SA, March 19 2014
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