Office of the ANC Chief Whip, 7 March 2014 Those Who Value Our Democracy Must Defend Our Electoral Commission The Office of the ANC Chief Whip has noted with serious concern attempts by certain parties to cast aspersions on the Independent Electoral Commission ahead of the 2014 election. Faced with the prospects of failure in the elections, these parties have set their sights on the IEC with an intention to discredit the institution's integrity with a view to justifying their bad performance in the election. We view this not only as a form of dirty electioneering, but a venomous tactic whose objective is to try to delegitimise the electoral commission as a credible and independent body and cause mischief ahead of the election. While we have no doubt that right thinking South Africans will dismiss such a tactic as a silly and desperate political gimmick, it should be stressed that it is short-sighted and reckless electioneering which is neither in the interest of our country nor the political parties behind it. The electoral commission has since 1994 lived up to its constitutional mandate of delivering national, provincial and municipal elections that are free, fair and credible. This has, without doubt, contributed to the achievement of representative and accountable institutions which are integral to sustaining a healthy and vibrant constitutional democracy. Today, the commission is recognised internationally as one of the best, thanks to its efficient and transparent electoral management - including the world-class systems it has put in place in the last 20 years. The commission regularly hosts delegations from the rest of the continent and the world interested in learning about its excellent elections management. In the last 20 years, the commission has remarkably improved its systems, including establishing a common voter's roll, introducing an electoral code of conduct, running successful voter education programmes, enhancing dispute resolution processes, forming conflict management committees and putting in place state of the art technology for efficient elections management. The IEC's management of fair, free, transparent and credible successive elections since the dawn of democracy has earned the institution a vote of confidence from the voting public itself. According to the Human Science Research Council survey of 2009 and 2011 elections, a whopping 95% of South Africans surveyed believed that the elections were "completely free". Very few public institutions locally and internationally enjoy such huge approval ratings from the public. The IEC, like any public or private institution, is not perfect and is susceptible to mistakes in the process of executing its tasks. Similarly, the institution is not above public criticism or scrutiny. However, it has become clear that certain parties have made consistent political attacks against the electoral commission (to devalue it and undermine its integrity ahead of the elections) a central feature of their election strategy. It is careless to play electioneering politics with such a critical institution of our democracy. The IEC should not be made a scapegoat for parties' failure to convince the electorate about their weak policies and ridiculous election promises that undermine their (public) intelligence. As the majority party in this institution which is responsible for conducting oversight over bodies such as chapter 9 institutions, we will always respect and defend the role they play in support of our democracy. Those who value our hard-won democracy and its institutions must rise in defence of this institution and condemn this poisonous tendency. We are confident that the majority of South Africans will continue to support and show confidence in the role of the IEC. We are also certain that these relentless efforts to tarnish its integrity will not distract the commission's attention from its goal of delivering yet another free and fair election. Issued by the Office of the ANC Chief Whip Enquiries: Moloto Mothapo, 082 370 6930 -- -- You are subscribed. This footer can help you. Please POST your comments to [email protected] or reply to this message. You can visit the group WEB SITE at http://groups.google.com/group/yclsa-eom-forum for different delivery options, pages, files and membership. To UNSUBSCRIBE, please email [email protected] . You don't have to put anything in the "Subject:" field. You don't have to put anything in the message part. All you have to do is to send an e-mail to this address (repeat): [email protected] . --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "YCLSA Discussion Forum" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
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