Change party changes its tune, accepts IEC apology

The Change party and the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) had reached an “amicable solution” to the party’s complaint about the incorrect name of the party printed on the PR ballot papers for Ekurhuleni and the City of Johannesburg.

After seven hours of behind-the-scenes discussions between the IEC CEO Sy Mamabolo, his deputy Masego Sheburi and commissioner Mosotho Moepya on the one side, and Change party leader Lesiba Molokomme and party national chair Bongani Mngomezulu on the other, made this announcement.

The IEC offered a “sincere apology” to Change’s leadership, supporters, and voters for the error. The two parties did not elaborate on the exact details of the solution, and did not take questions from the media.

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Molokomme said they felt that they must accept the IEC apology and move on because “South Africa was bigger than Change party”, and they could not have asked for more.

“We decided that South Africa is bigger than Change. As a result we reached a compromise to just let it go. It wasn’t an easy decision, we are not satisfied, but a compromise has to be reached for the sake of South Africa to move forward.

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Earlier Molokomme had demanded that the IEC stop the election and resolve the matter, after the party’s name did not appear on the PR ballot papers for the two metros. Instead its logo appeared next to the name of a different party, Active Movement for Change.

This apparently left the party voters confused and unsure of where to make their mark.

It has been reliably learned that the IEC had earlier offered to compensate the party for the error, but Molokomme was adamant that no amount of compensation could heal the damage and inconvenience caused to the party and its voters by the mistake.

ericn@citizen.co.za