Political analyst Goodenough Mashigo says the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) needs to be properly funded as it is the bedrock of South Africa’s democracy.
Mashigo said the reduced funding for the IEC hampered its work.
“The IEC needs to be understood not as just a voting institution but also as an educational institution that teaches people about elections and holds elections every five years and by-elections. So it must be properly funded because that’s the bedrock of South Africa’s democracy,” the analyst said.
On the issues of political parties lodging complaints against the IEC, Mashigo said the newly established parties had every right to complaint. However, he scolded the parties that had representatives in Parliament already, saying they should have pushed hard for the IEC to get more funding.
“Whenever there was a Budget Speech, I don’t remember them pushing hard for the IEC to get funding every time it appeared on portfolio committees. This should serve as reminder to them that they didn’t do their job over the past five years. That’s why we see the boat of the IEC going down,” he added.
Smaller parties should also stop complaining about the inefficiency of the IEC while those were only found in certain areas, he added.
On the issue of ballot papers running out, he said that it could be due to people who opted to vote for the national ballot only.
“In places were people were not allowed to vote on three ballot papers, that is something that the IEC needs to work on.
“The IEC did not have enough money to prepare to certain extent. Preparing for 27 million is different to the number of people who have been voting throughout. There is a higher turnout now.
“I think the IEC was benchmarking on a 66% turnout as opposed to benchmarking on a 100% voter turnout.”
Mashigo said he didn’t think the minor glitches encountered by the commission would taint the final result.
The Star