11 Oct 2020

Three council bye-elections are pending owing to the current state of public emergency, Independent Election Commission (IEC) election affairs and field operations manager Mr Dintle Rapoo has revealed.

 Appearing before the Parliamentary Governance and Oversight Committee recently, he said the affected wards were Metsimotlhabe, Boseja South and Tamasane which were rendered vacant by the death of their councillors.

As per statutes governing the state of public emergency, all laws and subsidiary laws are suspended and as such the Electoral Act together with the Local Government Act, which serve to announce vacancies of MPs and councillors, are consequently affected.

The committee also learnt that the IEC was still to pay about 200 polling staff who conducted the 2019 general elections.

Mr Rapoo attributed  the delay to, among others, late submission of claim forms and payment of                                                                                  overtime worked during elections.

He explained that the Public Service Act classified engagement in elections as overtime and in addition, the process straddled ministries leading to delays in processing payments.

“There is no how IEC alone could have not paid the poll staff up to this time,” he argued.

On preparations for the 2024 general elections, Mr Rapoo said the 13th electoral cycle would be the busiest, loaded with major events.

Among major events, he mentioned the Housing and Population Census followed by the delimitation exercise to determine constituency sizes.

Mr Rapoo said as a consequence, IEC would conduct demarcation of polling districts and polling stations, both locally and externally.

He added that establishment of polling districts and stations would pave way for voter registration and later the general elections proper.

Commenting on IEC submissions, committee members condemned the organisation for failing to pay polling staff which they said was a huge concern every election year.

They also wondered why the delimitation exercise was divorced from the elections body, arguing it left aggrieved parties, especially the opposition, with no room for recourse.

Selebi Phikwe West MP, Mr Dithapelo Keorapetse, stated that the arrangement promoted gerrymandering – systematic manipulation of electoral boundaries in favour of the ruling party.

The MPs also called on the IEC to put more efforts into attracting youth to participate in elections.

The commission was advised to consider facilitating registration as soon as polling stations were established to reduce the hustle of extending the exercise period. ends