02 Jun 2019

Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) communications officer Mr Osupile Maroba has requested councilors to gear-up for the upcoming elections by joining hands with the IEC to encourage the electorates to vote.

Addressing Francistown City full council meeting recently, he said it was important for councilors to assist in helping and encouraging voters to participate in the inspection of the voters roll as this would help in smooth voting.

Moreover, Mr Maroba said it was crucial to continue teaching the public about the importance of voting.

In addition, he shared with councillors the achievements of the IEC since its establishment in 1997, citing successful delivery of elections from 1997 to date.

He said constant increase in the number of voters was a clear indication of growth and achievement by IEC and other stakeholders.

“An increase in youth participation (21 per cent, 29 per cent and 40 per cent in 2004, 2009 and 2014 respectively) is also a good indication of doing something,” he added.

Reduction in the number of election petitions was also a good accomplishment with seven in 2009 and one in 2014.

Mr Maroba said that IEC has programmes such as School Social Studies syllabus, Democracy Youth Clubs and Youth Ambassadors as a way to educate and reach the population at large.

He noted the successful introduction of election related topics in the school curriculum as a success and observed that IEC encountered challenges such as inadequate resources like financial, human resources and transport.

Mr Maroba also noted the overwhelming number of independent candidates and language barrier like Afrikaans, Ikalanga and sign language as challenges encountered by the commission.

“The use and abuse of social media to proliferate fake news is a concern and should be looked at,” he lamented.

Commenting, councilors called for early voting for the elderly, people with disability and financing of all political parties.

They requested that such groups be allowed to cast their vote in case where there were typing errors in their registration cards and voters roll as they were unable to inspect the roll for corrections.

Councillors advised that in future there should be availability of online registration and direct election of president. ENDS