Foundation to keep next elections in check
Non-profit organisation, the Hola Bon Renaissance Foundation, launched its Observers Programme for next year's national general elections at the foundation's headquarters in Johannesburg.
Speaking at the launch, chairperson of the foundation Bontshitswe Mothopeng said the mission of the programme would be to recruit and deploy 15 000 men and women, both in the country and globally, to ensure that South Africa’s next election process is a democratic one.
Mothopeng said the aim of the programme would be to:
- observe that the democratic process is followed;
- ensure that the elections are free, fair and transparent;
- validate the counting of votes;
- report all activities of the elections; and
- confirm the announcement of election results.
“The foundation’s election-observing strategy will have one observer for every two to three voting stations across the country, and to reconfirm the legitimacy of the votes and announcement of the election results,” explained Mothopeng.
She added, “The foundation is undergoing a process to appoint the National Observer Committee, which will embark on full preparation for the 2014 elections by January.”
“We further welcome the Independent Electoral Commission’s decision to recruit a total of 19 856 electoral staff, such as presiding officers and area managers, which have been trained to date. Overall, more than 250 000 election officials will be recruited by the electoral commission,” she said.
According to Mothopeng, the foundation also focused on empowering, uniting and educating Africans through the transfer of skills.
“These are aimed at developing Africans to take responsibility for the development of the continent, enabling them to participate in building the continent and also to encourage communities’ transformation. This can be done by creating a community that is skilled and self-sustained with a central economic opportunity, thus contributing to economic growth and job creation,” said Mothopeng.
