Independent Election Commission & Film & Publications Board on Strategic Plan & Budget for 2010/11

Home Affairs

15 March 2010
Chairperson: Mr B Martins (ANC)
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Meeting Summary

The Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) presented its strategic plan for 2010/11 to 2012/13. The plan, covering 2010 to 2013, had been developed after a consultative process. It included measurable objectives and targets, set out the institution’s programmes, the budget in respect of strategic objectives and would form the basis for the annual report. The Commission had seven strategic objectives, which were outlined in the presentation in detail. It was noted that it was doing a substantial amount of work not only on preparing for municipal elections, but also was assisting in elections of diverse bodies such as taxi associations, university councils and student bodies, and was also working outside Africa. A Member raised a query on the independence and objectivity of municipal election observers who failed to distinguish party loyalty and official duties and responsibilities. The Member also wanted to know about election irregularities that had resulted in perceptions that a ballot box could be lost in previous elections. Members asked if IEC was considering introducing electronic voting as an alternative to the ballot paper system of elections. Members commended the IEC on its attempts to promote participation by young people in elections. Members also asked about blurring of lines between official capacity and responsibility of municipal officials, the need to encourage people to acquire identity documents as soon as they turned 16, whether there was not duplication across some of the strategic objectives, and recruitment to, and payment of people working for the IEC on election days.

The Film and Publications Board (FPB)  presented the Board’s strategic plan for 2010/11, noting that the year of the World Soccer Cup brought anxiety with respect to the protection of children as a result of the increased dangers of human trafficking and child pornography. It also was feeling the impact of the global economic crisis, which had a negative bearing on the Board’s income generated from registration fees. The key achievements for the 2009/10 financial year were highlighted, particularly the success of the Board’s campaign to prevent the launch of a 24 hour porn channel by Multichoice. The plans for 2010 were set out and discussed. It was noted that the compliance and monitoring work had also been significantly compromised by illegal copying of its logo, which had not been registered as a trademark. A Member asked whether responsibility for children should not rest on parents, and whether it was really necessary to regulate the industry. Another Member questioned this approach, saying that it failed to recognise the reality that many South African families were broken, and that State intervention would be required to protect young children. The reasons why the FPB could not further regulate the industry were outlined. Members commented that during raids, there had sometimes been involvement with some political parties, which created a misperception of political alignment, and asked what assistance was needed with registering the logo.

Meeting report

Independent  Electoral Commission (IEC) Strategic Plan 2010 - 2013
Ms Brigalia Bam, Chairperson: Independent Electoral Commission, noted that the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) was working hard to prepare for the upcoming 2011 municipal elections. IEC was continuing to register more South Africans on the voters’ roll, although this was always a challenge. One of the most important preparations for the elections was the demarcation of the municipalities, because of changes that occurred with respect to boundaries after every five years. This had implications for the voters’ roll and various electoral institutions and agencies involved in the running of elections for each ward and district. The Commission had strengthened and improved how elections were to be run by various institutions and agencies, thus entrenching democracy. IEC wanted to ensure that whatever elections were held in South Africa, these would be conducted professionally. The IEC had found itself, in recent years, working with taxi associations, which tended to be very violent in some areas. It also worked with university governing councils and a number of professional bodies and Student Representative Councils, since most activities in South Africa were politicised. The fact that these activities were politicised presented a challenge of ensuring that elections were run in a free and fair manner.

IEC noted that it was also doing work outside of Africa, and that there had been requests from Kenya and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) to assist Kenya in the running of its elections to avoid a repeat of what had happened there in their previous elections. There were also problems in Sudan because of the North-South conflict which could lead to two nations. The IEC had offered to assist the Sudanese with how elections could be conducted.

Consultations were also ongoing with the Minister of Home Affairs on proposed amendments to South Africa’s electoral laws. These amendments would not introduce major changes, but would introduce matters that the IEC believed would enhance the running of elections. One of the problems arising concerned conflicts that occurred at voting stations, in terms of authority.

Ms Bam emphasised that the Commission had worked very hard with the strategic plan, had studied each and every detail, and had found it challenging to measure the work that it was doing.

Ms Pansy Tlakula, Chief Executive Officer, IEC, presented the Commission’s strategic plan for 2010/11 to 2012/13. She highlighted the Electoral Commission’s revised mission statement, which was to be an independent and impartial permanent body created by the Constitution to promote and strengthen constitutional democracy in South Africa, through the delivery of free and fair elections at all levels of government. There had been no changes to the stated values of the Commission. The strategic plan had been developed after a consultative process and covered 2010 to 2013. It included measurable objectives and targets of the institution’s programmes, the budget in respect of strategic objectives, and would form the basis for the annual report. The Commission had seven strategic objectives which were outlined in the presentation in detail. [See document for details]

Discussion
Ms J Terblanche (DA) asked the Commission about the possibility of electronic voting as an alternative to the current paper ballot system. Electronic voting had been used with great success in India and other countries such as Mexico. She wanted to know if the Commission had considered it as a cost cutting measure.

Ms Tlakula responded that she had alluded to the issue of electronic voting in her presentation, when she had mentioned that there was research being conducted to assess the viability of that option. Whether the machines used in India could be a viable costing measure was debatable. The Commission had studied this issue during a study tour to India. The Indian machines were built using local materials. One major disadvantage was that once a vote had been processed, then the process could not be reversed, and it would have to be started over. The machines also did not leave a paper trail or provide any way in which verification could be done in the case of a challenge. Challenges were likely to occur in the South African context, as there tended to be much litigation in that regard. Machines that kept a record for verification tended to be more costly.

Ms Terblanche commented that she was concerned about Municipal officials who acted as Election Observers, but could not distinguish between their party loyalty and their official responsibilities. She questioned the objectivity and independence of such officials, noting that they did play a critical role in the running of elections.

Ms Bam responded that the IEC was not able to do much about officials who remained loyal to their parties when executing their official responsibilities. There was no way to get around this. The IEC had to work  with municipalities and had no say in the way that officials were appointed in their respective capacities. There was legislation, however, which required such appointments to be made without regard to political affiliation. She thought that the main problem was that no training was given to such officials, to empower them and educate them about the democratic process. The legal framework was also very complex and officials also needed to be educated about their legal responsibilities.

Mr M Mnqasela (DA) commented that he was impressed with strategic objective 6, which focused on young people in schools and institutions of higher learning.  There were however, challenges around the perception that ballot boxes could be lost, and other irregularities that had cropped up in the previous elections. He felt that it was always best to interact with the IEC on those issues prior to elections to find ways of addressing such issues, before they occurred. The other challenge was the blurring of lines between official capacity and responsibility in municipal roles and party affiliation. He had personally experienced situations where, when trying to get assistance from municipal officials, he had been told that “this is not a DA event”, and there was no room for further discussion after that statement. Often, it was only possible then to raise the issues at another level and not at the level of those municipal officials.

Ms Tlakula responded that the Commission had seen progress on resolving the irregularities of the previous elections. She pointed out that a woman who had been apprehended for tampering with ballot boxes in KwaZulu-Natal had now been convicted and sentenced to a term of imprisonment. This demonstrated the gravity of such offenses.

The Chairperson remarked that the congestion for the acquisition of documents around election time could be greatly reduced if there was also a campaign to ensure that citizens acquired identity documents at the age of 16 years.

Advocate Z Madasa (ANC) asked whether there had been duplication regarding strategic objectives 3, 4 and 6, and if these could not all fall under the broad rubric of education.

Ms Tlakula explained that there had been no duplication, and pointed out the differences in these strategic objectives to the Member.

Ms H Makhuba (IFP) commended the Commission for a good presentation. However she had previously commented on a human resource concern that she hoped would be addressed, with regard to people working on the day of an election. She wanted to know who was responsible for recruiting for the IEC, as she had many people in her constituency who were confused about this and wanted clarity. She also expressed the hope that things would be done differently in the municipal elections when it came to the issue of payment.

Ms Tlakula responded that the criteria for staff recruitment and payments were clearly articulated in the IEC’s policy.

Ms Bam added that the issue of payments was governed by the Auditor-General, who required payments to be made using bank accounts. This presented an enormous challenge for large sections of the rural community, who had to travel long distances to access banks, or for those people who were unemployed and had to rely on a relative or friend to access a bank account. This resulted in enormous administrative challenges, as it resulted in people who were not on the payroll being reflected in the schedule of payments, and this created opportunities for fraud.

Film and Publications Board (FPB) Strategic Plan
Ms Thoko Mpumlwana, Chairperson, Film and Publications Board, introduced the Film and Publications Board (FPB or the Board) strategic plan for 2010/11. She remarked that the strategic plan had been drawn against the back drop of the 2010 World Cup year, which brought anxiety around the protection of children, as a result of the increased dangers of human trafficking and child pornography. The global economic crisis had also created an economic squeeze, which had a bearing on the FPB’s income, which was generated from registration fees, and which would be reduced as a result of the drop in fees.

Ms Yoliswa Makhasa, Chief Executive Officer, FPB, presented the FPB strategy for 2010/11, focusing on the entity’s values and mission statement. Ms Makhasa highlighted the Board’s key achievements for the 2009/10 financial year. She noted in particular the success of the Board’s campaign to prevent the launch of a 24 hour porn channel by Multichoice. This was part of the Board’s broader objective to protect young children from exposure to pornography. She also highlighted that the 2010 World Cup tournament presented certain challenges for the entity, with respect to its compliance and monitoring work, as the FPB would not be able to rely upon the full support of the police, who would be committed to World Cup duties. FPB was therefore likely to face shortages in manpower for the conducting of raids for non-compliance. The FPB’s compliance and monitoring work had also been significantly compromised by illegal copying of its logo, which had not been registered as a trademark. [See document for details]

Mr J Poshoko, Chief Financial Officer, FPB, presented the budget and revenue information for the financial period under consideration. [See attached document]

Discussion
Mr Mnqasela commented that there was ample evidence that the FPB had been doing a lot of work, from what had been reported in the media. On the issue of the protecting children from pornography, he felt that that it was the parents’ responsibility to take adequate measures to supervise their children and therefore to make active choices in terms of the kind of society that they wanted to develop.

Mr Mnqasela commented that he was concerned about the manner in which raids had been conducted by the FPB, where there had been involvement by certain political parties. He was afraid that their good work would be tainted by misconceptions that they were affiliated to particular political parties.

Advocate Madasa asked how the Commission took the debate on responsibility being placed on parents. He felt that the emphasis on parents was unrealistic, because it ignored the reality that many South African families were broken and were headed by children. These imperfect family circumstances gave rise to the need for even greater protection of children, and had to be the premise for any discussion on responsibility. The economic hardships suffered by a majority of South Africans also left them insufficient time to monitor their children in the home, as they had to work long hours that separated them from their families, in order to secure sufficient income. He asked why the industry was not regulated to cater for the realities of society.

Ms Mpumlwana responded that the FPB was working under a very powerful media environment. The type of Constitution that South Africa had did not allow FPB to tighten up the industry.

Ms Makhasa added that pornography was a highly profitable enterprise, with a huge consumer demand and FPB had, after substantial efforts, only just managed to stop Multichoice from launching the porn channel, using the argument of protection of children.  FPB faced the dilemma of not being able to regulate as strictly as was done in countries such as China, and the fact that there were multiple internet technologies which used other platforms like cell-phones, which presented significant regulatory challenges. Pornography was accessible through cell-phones and various mobile platforms such as Mxit, for example.

Ms Maunye asked why the FPB logo was not protected and if there was any assistance that the FPB required in this regard from the Committee.

A Member of the FPB responded that the FPB had not registered a trademark for its logo and was now in the process of doing so. A report would be given on the progress of the registration during the financial reporting period.

The meeting was adjourned.

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