Chairperson, the Independent Electoral Commission of the Republic of South Africa is required to be an independent body and subject only to the Constitution and the law. It has to be impartial and should exercise its powers to perform and function without fear, favour and prejudice.
One of its core functions is to manage elections. The amendment of the Local Government: Municipal Electoral Act seeks, among other things, to amend provisions relating to the nomination of candidates; to empower presiding officers to alter boundaries of voting stations; to clarify the rights and responsibilities relating to assistance to certain voters; and to provide for special votes and the procedure related thereto.
The IFP would like to make mention of the amendment to section 21 of the Act. This amendment makes provision for the empowerment of the presiding officers, after consultation with the party agents and members of the security services who are present, to redetermine and redemarcate the boundary of a voting station at any time, if it is necessary to do so, in order to ensure proper control and security at voting stations.
Whilst the IFP welcomes this amendment, we would like to stress that we believe the consultation process in this regard, between the presiding officers and the party agents, will be of the utmost importance. We must ensure that presiding officers do not act unilaterally in making decisions on the demarcation of the voting stations. We must ensure that all party agents are involved in the process. If not, this process will, without doubt, lead to unnecessary tension and could jeopardise the voting process and credibility of the results.
Furthermore, we welcome the fact that the amending Bill now states, in black and white, exactly how many party agents are allowed at each voting station. The amended section 39 of this Act now states that no more than two party agents are allowed per voting station or, if voting takes place in more that one room or a separately enclosed area, two agents in respect of each room are allowed, and one party agent for the independent candidate.
The IFP believes that this is a step in the right direction and that it will go a long way in ensuring that there is equal and fair representation of party agents at voting stations. There have been too many instances in the past where we have seen one party's agents flooding voting stations, which gives that party an unfair advantage. This amendment seeks to put a stop to this practice and we therefore welcome the amendment.
The 2011 local government elections are just around the corner and they will, as always, be hotly contested elections. We believe that these amendments will go a long way to ensure that the playing fields are level at all local government voting stations. It will strengthen monitoring and oversight at the local polls.
The IFP hopes that amendments to this Bill will strengthen the Independent Electoral Commission of the Republic of South Africa's ability to perform its function without fear, favour and prejudice. The IFP therefore supports the amendments to this Bill. Thank you. [Applause.]