DA IS PREPARING THE GROUND FOR THEIR FAILURE IN 2016

13 August 2014

The Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) has since 1994 delivered to South Africans credible, free, fair and transparent elections. Notwithstanding the baseless attack on it by the Democratic Alliance and other political parties recently and in the run up to the 2014 General Elections, the IEC continues to be acclaimed for its capability and professionalism. The absence of any substantive and factual complaints (including from DA itself) is evidence of its impartiality in conducting its oversight of elections.

The recent attack on the integrity of the IEC by the DA is unfounded. The attempt to link the IEC to the ANC is disingenuous. The IEC has served the people of South Africa with distinction over the past 20 years, doing so in a manner that is universally accepted as non-partisan. The irony is that the only Commissioner in the IEC with clear politician affiliation is Reiner Taljaard, a former DA MP and former CEO of Helen Suzman Foundation. It is ironic also, that Zille attacks the Municipal Demarcation Board for being partisan. She suffers from selective amnesia and forgets that the Municipal Demarcation Board has often found in favour of the DA, including in Midvaal.

When it comes to the issue of teachers or SADTU members being employed as officials in the election process, Zille has clearly not done her homework well in terms of teachers who have been employed as functionaries by the IEC since 1994. Not all teachers are members of SADTU, many who have been employed during elections are members of National Teachers Union (NATU), the Suid Afrikaanse Onderwys Unie (SAOU) and the National Professional Teachers Organisation of South Africa (NAPTOSA) amongst others.

The DA is once again preparing the ground for their failure in 2015 Local Government Elections. The IEC is being used as a scarecrow and scapegoat in this process. In true DA fashion, they have commenced their election campaign with a continuation of an anti-majoritarian offensive, an attack on the ANC and glaring lack of any substantive issues to raise to the electorate.

Statement issued by Gwede Mantashe, ANC Secretary General, August 13 2014

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