IEC called to order: Not voting doesn’t take away your right to complain

As a chapter nine state institution supporting constitutional democracy, the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) came under fire on Thursday for a poster on its Twitter platform – which has since been deleted – captioned, “Just remember, if you don’t vote you lose the right to complain.

“Do the right thing, put an X to it.”

With local elections just over a week away, one of IEC’s roles is the promotion of voting.

However, senior attorney at the Wits University Centre for Applied Legal Studies, Sithuthukile Mkhize, disagreed with the way it was encouraging people to vote.

“It was inappropriate for them to suggest that a failure to vote means people lose a right to complain, which effectively means they lose the right to exercise other constitutionally guaranteed rights,” Mkhize said.

“This is obviously not true – their role as a chapter nine institution is to encourage the public to exercise their right in a meaningful manner.”

Mkhize added abstaining from voting could also be seen as a form of complaint and an expression of a view members of the public are entitled to do.

“People’s rights remain intact even if they choose not to exercise the right to vote. There is no law, or anything in the constitution which states that people lose any of their constitutionally guaranteed rights if they don’t vote.

“Not voting, in my view, in addition to it being a form of protest, also means that you are allowing other people to decide who can lead the country or constituencies in which we live,” she said.

Political analyst Levy Ndou said the IEC is “trying their best to encourage people to vote so they are able to deliver on their mandate and… do whatever it takes to encourage people.

“A citizen complaining has nothing to do with the IEC, citizens have the right to complain whether they have voted or not.

“It is all unfortunate, but should be understood in the context of a chapter nine institution that wants to be seen to have delivered on a constitutional responsibility,” he said.

Political commentator Tessa Dooms tweeted that she had contacted the relevant IEC authorities to do the right thing.

“I have written to a commissioner and deputy commissioner of the IEC about this. I hope the IEC leadership step up and do the right thing here. This is indicative of a long-standing problem of reducing communications and voter education at the IEC to pop culture campaigns.”

Siphelele Nguse, an outraged Twitter user, tweeted: “But that’s not how democracy works! Each citizen, regardless of whether they voted or not, have a constitutional & democratic right to complain.

“Also, one of your tasks is to provide voter education not spreading misinformation. Director of Lawyers for Human Rights Wayne Ncube said not only was the IEC’s caption problematic but also a complete misinterpretation of the South African constitution.

“The Bill of Rights contains clear political rights, including the right to vote… On top of the voting rights, we have the right to public participation in state processes; including the right to protest when you are not getting service delivery or the state is not fulfilling its obligation which is why we have the judiciary,” he said.

The IEC said the post was misunderstood.

“We apologise for the misunderstanding the commission has since retracted and deleted the tweet,” said the chief communications officer Kate Bapela.

– asandam@citizen.co.za