Transparency issues delay the appointment of new Electoral Commission of South Africa commissioners

THE appointment of three new commissioners of the Electoral Commission of SA (IEC) ahead of next year’s local government elections has been delayed after concerns were raised about the limited publicity surrounding the process.

Last month, Chief Justice Mandisa Maya invited nominations to fill the vacancies to be created by the end of the seven-year tenures of IEC chairperson Mosotho Moepya, commissioners Judge Dhaya Pillay and Dr Nomsa Masuku later this year.

Moepya, Pillay, and Masuku were appointed by President Cyril Ramaphosa in November 2018.

The appointment of IEC commissioners is conducted through a panel chaired by Maya and includes Public Protector Kholeka Gcaleka, as well as representatives of the SA Human Rights Commission and the Commission for Gender Equality, which are all Chapter Nine institutions in terms of the Constitution.

Chief Justice Maya responded to requests by certain organisations and extended the deadline for nominations from May 16 to June 6.

“This will allow interested persons who may not have been aware of the advertisement to submit their nominations by no later than the abovementioned date,” her office indicated.

Lobby group My Vote Counts was among the organisations and individuals who made the requests.

In its letter to the Office of the Chief Justice (OCJ), My Vote Counts stated that there had been neither a media statement nor a social media communiqué from the OCJ or the IEC concerning the nomination process.

According to the organisation, there has been almost no coverage of the nomination process in the media.

“The IEC plays a crucial role in our democracy. The commission’s independence and impartiality are at the heart of the public trust it enjoys. Trust cannot be maintained in the absence of transparency and openness.

“As such, it is important that competent and impartial people are appointed. Further to this, the appointment process is widely publicised so that the public can scrutinise, monitor, and engage with it,” My Vote Counts explained.

The lobby group added: “Given the fact that we are six months away from the conclusion of the three commissioners’ term, we are requesting an extension of the deadline for the submission of nominations of electoral commissioners to 15 June.”

It urged the OCJ to widely publicise the process, create public awareness to allow for meaningful participation, and, as the body overseeing the nominations, it needs to do more to ensure openness and transparency.

Independent elections analyst Michael Atkins also shared similar concerns, saying the IEC’s work relied heavily on enjoying the trust of all South Africans and that openness and transparency are clearly of the utmost importance.

“Therefore, it is somewhat alarming that this process should be conducted with so little publicity and awareness. The perception could easily be created that the nominations are effectively a closed shop, with all three positions being filled by commissioners ending their first term in office, and thus being available for re-appointment. It does not matter if this perception is false,” Atkins explained.

He said in his view, the OCJ should have been doing everything in its power to make the nominations process as open and transparent as possible.

Atkins also complained that three years ago, the process was extended after similar concerns were raised by various civil society bodies.

“The making and accepting of nominations for these positions is not a light or frivolous matter, and there could be a number of serious candidates who will simply not be nominated because of the paucity of public awareness of this call. It is also trite to observe that the existence of three vacancies compounds the importance of this consideration,” he pleaded.