Limpopo’s voters can choose from 20 parties

THE Limpopo provincial ballot papers will reflect 20 political parties contesting the election at provincial level on May 7.

These political parties signed a code of conduct with the Independent Electoral Commission during a ceremony held in Polokwane on Friday.

The parties are: African National Congress (ANC), Democratic Alliance (DA), Congress of the People (Cope), Pan Africanist Congress (PAC), African People’s Convention (APC), African Christian Democratic Party (ACDP), Freedom Front Plus (VF+), National Freedom Party (NFP), Ximoko Party (XP), South African Maintenance and Estate Beneficiaries Association (Sameba), Azanian People’s Organisation (Azapo), Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), United Democratic Movement (UDM), Agang SA, Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP), Workers and Socialist Party (Wasp), Unemployment Movement of South Africa (Umsa), Lekgotla for Democracy Advancement, Merafong Civic Association and the United Christian Democratic Party (UCDP).

Limpopo electoral officer, Nkaro Mateta said they had registered 2,5 million voters in the province. She said Limpopo had exceeded its 80% target by 36 512 voters, according to the Stats SA voting age population census data.

“Limpopo should have 3 004 795 voters on its segment of the roll. Officially and as certified, Limpopo has 81,2% of the voting age population registered. Of the registered voters in Limpopo, 59,8% are women. I hope that this balance in favour of women will also be reflected when the votes are counted and when seats are filled in legislature,” she said.

“According to statistics, the national gender split in the broader population is 52% women and 48% men. We are challenging men of all ages to increase their numbers on the voters roll. Registration figures for youth between the ages of 18 and 19 years stand at less than 65 000, about 26% of the voting age population in this age group, in particular just over 235 000 while the 20 – 29 years age group makes up 65,5% of the voting population. We remain concerned about the low level of participation by the youth. We will continue in our efforts to ensure that young people exercise their votes on voting day,” she said.

“We are communicating with voters through the voter and balloting education programme. The electoral commission plays a pivotal role in the process of entrenching democracy through the management and administration of regular elections, which are free and fair. It is important that all our systems, including individuals responsible for the management of elections are independent, impartial, transparent and accountable in their functioning. “The commission has already recruited just over 9 000 election officials for the elections and we are already rolling-out training to these key officials. We will recruit approximately 40 000 election officials for the elections. The number of voting stations will be increased to 3 066 from 2 783 in the 2011 elections, an increase of 283 stations,” she said.

“We have developed a new set of criteria for the appointment of electoral staff; presiding and deputy presiding officers in particular. These criteria include that presiding and deputy presiding officers must not in the last five years have held office in an organisation that has party political affiliations or aims. To ensure transparency, we have submitted the names of the proposed presiding and deputy presiding officers to local PLCs and have given them time to object in writing to any of the proposed officials,” she said.

“We have started with our preparations for the election some time ago and have already secured almost all the material to be utilised on election day,” she said.

Speaking on behalf of premier Stanley Mathabatha, treasury MEC Rudolph Phala said all political parties should abide by the code of conduct. He said all parties that started violence should be punished. “We need a free and fair election,” said Phala. Brig Ria Mkhabela from the Polokwane police station said the men and women in blue were ready and would make sure that nobody disrupted the election.