IEC needs to do better in future elections – panel

While last week’s general election was declared free and fair, the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) needs to do better in future elections.

This is according to a panel discussion hosted by the humanities graduate centre at Wits University yesterday.

“The elections weren’t efficient. The IEC can do better next time,” said one speaker, Sizwe Mpofu-Walsh, who holds a doctorate in international relations from Oxford University.

Holding IEC accountable requires multifaceted approach

Busisiwe Seabe, researcher at the Gauteng provincial legislature, said holding the IEC accountable requires a multifaceted approach.

“It involves formal complaints, media and public pressure, parliamentary oversight, legal action, civil society engagement, internal reforms within the IEC and also continuous monitoring,” she said.

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“So, by employing these strategies, stakeholders can work towards ensuring that the IEC upholds the integrity of the electoral process and addresses any irregularities effectively.”

While Mpilo Cele also felt strongly about holding the IEC accountable, the co-founder of South African Youth Association for Global Affairs, and Mpofu-Walsh believe the elections were free and fair.

A lot of fear looking at the future

Despite opposing views, the speakers agreed on one thing: there was a lot of fear looking at the future of politics in South Africa, considering it has not yet been decided what the coalition will look like.

On the subject of effective governance and service delivery, Seabe said because the coalition parties would be new to working with each other on a national level, citizens need to be patient.

“We can’t expect tangible change because they need to get to know each other and find common ground,” she said.

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But Mpofu-Walsh said political parties “said for over a year that they will lead… Now it’s time to do that. We cannot be patient”.

Trial and error from now on

The panel did agree coalitions would be the order of the day, even though for now it would be a trial and error, but did not support the notion that the markets should be worried about the coalition government.

• The discussion was moderated by political analyst Nkululeko Sibiya, and other speakers included dr Ayesha Omar, senior lecturer at Wits University.

Some of the key themes were what the implications of the election results were on governance and service delivery, the dawn of a coalition government, the stability of the new government, and whether the ANC can reinvent itself.