POLOKWANE – Polokwane Observer spoke to Nkaro Mateta, provincial electoral officer for the Independent Electoral commission (IEC) about the role of councillors. “The role of councillors is to take the plight of the people to the municipal council where their concerns will be heard. Councils at local municipalities consist of 50% proportional representative (PR) councillors and 50% ward councillors.”
Mateta says voters will have to vote from three ballot papers.
The ward councilor ballot is used for the constituency of the ward councillor. Mateta says on this ballot, voters will be voting for their preferred individual for the ward councillor position. The seat allocation is calculated based on the number of seats for each candidate versus the total number of votes received. Independent candidates’ name are also on this ballot. “This is the person you vote for because they are your preferred leader. This is the person that will have to help you with your service delivery issues.”
The PR ballot is where voters get to vote for the political party they want to govern in their ward. This is irrespective of which candidate they are voting for. Mateta says that political parties contesting elections need to submit the names of candidates for the PR role ahead of the elections. She says the commission has already received the submitted lists from all the political parties. She says the number of PR seats are always half of the council seats in the municipality. She says after the ward councillor seats have been determined, the IEC will determine how to proportionally divide the seats according to how many votes each party got. Independent candidates cannot be voted for and are not included in this ballot.
The district ballot is used to elect the political party and candidates that will represent you in the district council. The seat allocation to the district councils based on the number of votes per political parties in the local municipalities that fall under that districts.
She explains that independent candidates cannot be voted for and are not included in the district ballot because they do not have any wards. “Those voted for on the district ballot will amount to only 40% of the council seats and the other 60% will be determined by the seats at the local municipal level.”
