“We are ready to run these elections” says IEC

The Home Affairs Portfolio Committee received a briefing by the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) today, with mostly positive stories from the IEC regarding their preparation and state of readiness for the national election, come 7 May 2014.

IEC Deputy Chairperson, Terry Tselane, told the Committee that although “we are ready to run these elections”, it was going to be more difficult than past elections. “What makes this election even more complex is the intra-party and inter-party tensions”, he said, making mention specifically of the recent in-fighting between Pan African Congress members.

He cited other challenges regarding recent instability in parts of the country - which he hoped would not disturb this year’s election – media scrutiny that seemed more intense than ever, and the eagerness of political parties that want to take the IEC to court to contest various issues.

Still, he remained positive that this IEC team “will run elections in a credible manner”.

IEC Chief Electoral Officer, Mosotho Moepya, had better news to share, informing MPs that all new human settlement areas were covered and have voting districts. 22 263 voting districts were declared – 9% more than during the 2011 Local Government Elections. Two registration weekends were successfully concluded, the first on 8 and 9 November 2013, and the other on 8 and 9 February 2014, with approximately 2.35 million new voters being registered.

For the first time since the Constitutional Court ruled in its favour, approximately 9 900 prisoners have been registered across the country and will be allowed to vote.

Previously, the IEC’s target was to register 80% of the Voting Age Population (VAP) – 31 434 035 according to Stats SA. The IEC exceeded their target by 242 922, making the total amount of registered voters 25.4 million, with the voters roll at 80.8% of the target. The highest amount of registered VAP in terms of provinces, was the Free State (86%) followed closely by the Eastern Cape (85.4%), with the lowest registered VAP being Gauteng (77.1%), followed closely by Mpumalanga (77.9%) and the Western Cape (78%).

Moepya told the Committee that “more and more people are being registered” even though the figure of 80.8% registered voters was less than 2009’s figure of 84.07%.

So far, there are 196 registered political parties as at 6 March 2014: 148 in the national sphere and 48 in the municipal sphere of government. Only political parties that are registered in the national sphere will be eligible to contest the 2014 elections. There are approximately 212 000 electoral staff members that will be recruited and trained, with approximately 3 000 staff members working with communities at local events doing civic and voter education.

Areas that have experienced challenges regarding long queues and disturbances will have 25% more contingency staff that can be called on for assistance. Conflict resolution panels have also been established in communities, which have been working well so far.

Moepya also assured the Committee that the matter of menacing disturbances and intimidation tactics by citizens at the voting stations would be closely monitored. This was of “grave concern” to the IEC, but they have a good relationship with SAPS, who would be assisting them as a last resort.

MPs were particularly concerned about long queues at voting stations and what the IEC was going to do about it. They did not want voters to be turned away at the doors at closing time like they were in the past. Moepya emphasised that if voters were in line before closing time, then IEC staff “should work until late if there are long queues”.

Voicing concern around load shedding, MPs asked if the IEC was prepared for power outages. Moepya replied that they were “very well prepared”, as they would be meeting with Eskom to talk about the election programme for 7 May.

Acting Chairperson of the Committee, Adv Andre Gaum, was confident that the country will have another example of a free and fair election, saying that the IEC “is well-prepared and South Africa is election-ready. The legitimacy of our election lies largely in your hands, and we are sure you will execute it with the necessary care”.