IEC ready for elections
This publication learnt there were about 16 political parties in the province contesting the national general elections.
MBOMBELA – As part of the preparation of the national general elections on May 7, the Electoral Commission of South Africa held a workshop last week Friday at the Protea Hotel with journalists from various media houses in the province.
The aim of the workshop was to give reporters more information regarding the elections and also to report on the state of readiness of the commission in the province.
During the gathering, it was revealed that since 1994, a lot has happened in South Africa, which means that this year’s elections will be unique as different delegates were sharing the stage.
The commission’s manager, Ms Bajabulisile Mthethwa, said the workshop was very important because they wanted to state how the media had to report as they believe that to build or destroy the future of IEC, lies with the media.
Mr Mfana Nkosi of the IEC management indicated the commission in the province was more than ready as he went on: “We are ready for the elections. We have more than 15 000 electoral staff members who are well trained. We have appointed mature people of which 50 per cent are women and two per cent people who are living with disabilities.
” Recently we have trained party agents of all political parties in Ermelo and on Thursday we did the same in Nelspruit at Orion Hotel. I’d like to state clearly that party agents’ role is to monitor voting stations and we also like to emphasise that people who won’t be able to vote on May 7 due to certain valid reasons, must apply for special votes at their nearest IEC offices,” he explained.
This publication learnt there were about 16 political parties in the province contesting the national general elections.
To ensure that no political party will be found on the wrong side of the IEC law, the commission has introduced a handbook on electoral offences, which states clearly the punishment for breaking a law such as the issuing of prohibitions concerning placards and billboards during elections and defacing or unlawfully removing any billboard, placard or poster published by a party or candidate for the purpose of an election. It will warrant a fine or imprisonment for a period not exceeding five years.
Some of the illegal activities on voting day include campaigning and party agents are not allowed to wear political party T-shirts, berets or caps on the day.
