23 Jun 2016

The Minister of Agriculture, Mr Patrick Ralotsia says the coming seating of Parliament will debate the Electronic Voting Machine Bill.

Mr Ralotsia who was addressing kgotla meetings at Ntlhantlhe and Lekgolobotlo on June 21, said the use of electronic voting machine was voting using electronic means to take care of the chores of casting and counting votes.

He said the voting system may encompass a range of Internet services, the degree of automation may vary from simple chores to a complete solution that includes voter registration and vote input, tallying, transmission to servers, vote consolidation and election administration.

Mr Ralotsia who is also MP for Kanye North told residents that the voting system could perform most of the tasks while complying with a set of standards established by regulatory bodies, and could also be capable to deal successfully with strong requirements associated with security, accuracy, privacy and cost-effectiveness.

He explained that voting machine recorded votes by means of a ballot display provided with mechanical components that could be activated by the voter that processed data with computer software.

He said the system may also provide a means for transmitting individual ballots or vote totals to a central location for consolidating and reporting results from areas at the central location.

The minister indicated that the recent voting system was not accurate because some voters disturbed others during the voting. He said some candidates changed voters’ minds while they were still on their way to cast their votes.

However, residents welcomed the new developments promising to learn from the electoral commission.

On other issues, Mr Ralotsia encouraged residents to celebrate the coming 50 years anniversary of ndependence celebrations in style. He said they should show that the country had every reason to be proud of what it had achieved.

Mr Ralotsia said before independence, there were no developments such as roads, infrastructure, schools, health facilities, telephones and fresh water.

Residents of Ntlhantlhe and Lekgolobotlo decried alarming rate of crime more especially livestock theft and requested more police officers to arrest the situation.

Farmers were worried about livestock which destroyed their crops. They said government provided them with seeds and manure to plough freely, but some leave their cattle to destroy their crops. ENDS