IEC readiness for 2014 elections; Committee Legacy Report

Home Affairs

11 March 2014
Chairperson: Mr A Gaum (ANC)
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Meeting Summary

The Electoral Commission said that, going into the 2014 elections, it was aware that these elections were going to be extremely complex and difficult. There had been difficult elections before in the past, but the 2014 elections seemed to be accompanied by more difficulties. The Chief Electoral Officer briefed the Committee on its preparedness for the elections on 7 May 2014, taking the Committee through the election timetable, plus the procedures and protocols in place to ensure smooth and credible elections. The Commission said it was prepared with a pool of electoral staff and it would be ready to run the election on 7 May 2014.

The next step was to receive the candidate lists from political parties on 12 March, and then the IEC would proceed to print ballot papers – a panel of printers was already appointed for the task.

The voters’ roll had already been certified by the Chief Electoral Officer, logistics were in place, and electoral staff had been recruited and were being trained. The area where the Commission required support was in the managing of the political environment.

With the recent load shedding by Eskom, the Committee asked if the Commission had factored this in. The IEC assured the Committee that they were well prepared and were working with Eskom and that they had taken their own precautionary measures.

The pockets of violence and instability were also a concern but the Commission encouraged negotiated settlements within the community and would only involve the police as a last resort.

With the implementation of the Electoral Amendment Act, there were new challenges but the Commission was taking it all in its stride and had not come across anything it could not manage or was not prepared for.

The Committee was satisfied that the Commission was ready for elections and commented that it carried a huge responsibility in ensuring the legitimacy of the elections and safeguarding the democracy of the country.

The Committee adopted its Legacy Report. Since the Department was unable to attend to address the concerns raised in the Member’s letter on the Regulations to the Immigration Legislation, the Committee proposed another meeting be scheduled to deal solely with that.
 

Meeting report

Mr Terry Tselane, Deputy Chairperson of the Electoral Commission, apologised for the absence of the IEC Chairperson, Pansy Tlakula, who was attending to business outside the country. Going into the 2014 elections, the Commission was aware that these elections were going to be extremely complex and difficult. There had been difficult elections before in the past, but the 2014 elections seemed to be accompanied by more difficulties.

Some factors that have contributed to this were inter- and intra- party tensions. The Commission hoped that the issue with the Pan-Africanist Congress, for example, was resolved. There had also been pockets of instability in certain parts of the country. It was hoped that the political parties and communities involved would be able to assist in order to have credible elections.

There had also been more intense scrutiny of the processes of the Electoral Commission, political parties were taking the Commission to court to contest some issues. This did not mean that parties were not supposed to take the Commission to court; it just meant that the Commission was forced to divert its resources and energy in contesting this cases. There had also been intense media scrutiny on everything that the Commission was doing.

Electoral Commission on its readiness for 2014 elections
Mr Mozotho Moepya, Chief Electoral Officer, began by telling the Committee that for the first time South Africa had an international section on the voters’ roll. Also there were 196 political parties registered for elections. Registration of parties was closing on 12 March and that was the last day to submit party lists for the national elections.

The revision of the voting station network had been concluded, resulting in 22 261 voting districts. This was 9% more than the 2011 local government elections. There were 1 255 voting districts what would have sub-stations.

Registration of Voters
There were two targeted communication of registration initiatives undertaken in March and September 2013. Two registration weekends were successfully concluded in the Republic on 8 / 9 November 2013 and 8 / 9 February 2014. Two registration weekends were successfully concluded in 108 countries at 123 missions, these were on 17 / 19 and 24 / 26 January 2014. Registration at Correctional Services countrywide was concluded on 5 - 7 February 2014.

Current Registration Figures
Current registration for the 2014 (as certified on 05 March 2014) numbered 25 390 150. Stats SA’s Voting Age Population (VAP) 2012 census data said that there were 31 434 035 eligible voters in the Republic. The IEC had targeted to register 80% of that number, which would have been 25 147 228. This meant that the target was exceeded by 242 922.

Registration vs VAP by Province
There were three province that had missed the 80% target set by the Commission: Gauteng, Mpumalanga and Western Cape. Highest registrations were in the Free State, followed by the Eastern Cape then the Northern Cape. The new international section of the voters’ roll had 6 789 registrations.

Voters’ roll – Comparison
For the 1999, 80% of the eligible voters were registered. This went up to 84.60% in 2004 and declined to 84.07% in 2009. There as a further decline in 2014 with 80.80% of eligible voters captured. This meant that there were 25 390 150 registered voters for the 2014 elections.

Registration vs VAP by Age Group
The Commission had especially targeted first time voters in the 18-19 age group, the Stats SA VAP Estimate reflected 1 926 127 people in this age group. As per the certified Voters' Roll 646 313 had registered to vote, which meant a mere 33.6% were captured. In the 80+ age group, Stats SA had estimated that there were 533 647 citizens in this age group. However 575 222 were on the voters’ roll, this was 107.8%.

Registration of Political Parties and Liaison
There was registration of a 196 political parties as at 6 March 2014: 148 in the national sphere and 48 in the municipal sphere of government were registered. Political party registration was an on-going activity. Only those parties that were registered in the national sphere of government on the cut-off date for the submission of lists of candidates would be eligible to contest the 2014 National and Provincial Elections (NPE).

Recruitment and Training of Electoral Staff
Approximately 212 000 electoral staff members were to be recruited and trained, and recruitment had started. The Presiding and Deputy Presiding Officers had already been recruited and training was at an advanced stage. Training materials were revised to adopt a modular approach – this made it easier to organise and emphasise training content. Risk management was built into the required staff numbers per municipality.

Liaison
- Party Liaison Committees (PLC) were in place across all spheres of government, and an invitation was extended to unrepresented parties.
- Ongoing participation in JOINTS structures providing ongoing monitoring of conditions in which the elections were to take place.
- There were extensive consultations with stakeholders through the National Coordinating Forum.
- Conflict resolution panels had been established.
- There was extensive communication of the electoral process, emphasising cut-off dates in the Electoral Timetable.

Election Timetable
- 25 February 2014 - Elections proclaimed by President and Premiers. Notification of intention to vote outside of the Republic;
- 26 February 2014 - Consultations concluded with parties in the National Party Liaison Committee (NPLC). Election Timetable gazetted by the IEC. Submission of nomination documents open;
- 5 March 2014 – Notice of list of addresses of voting stations made available for inspection; Notice of routes of mobile voting stations published; Cut-off date for certification of the voters’ roll;
- 12 March 2014 – Cut-off date for notification of intention to vote outside of the Republic; Cut-off date for submission of list of candidates;
- 18 March 2014 – Cut-off date for the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) to issue notices of non-compliance notices to political parties;
- 27 March 2014 – Cut-off date for political parties to comply;
- 28 March 2014 -  Notice of inspection of candidates and accompanying documents published;
- 28-31 March – list of candidates and accompanying documents open for inspection;
- 1 April 2014 – Cut-off date for objections to a candidate;
- 7 April 2014 – Cut-off date for the decision on objections to a candidate;
- 7-17 April 2014 – Applications for special votes to Municipal Electoral Officer opened;
- 10 April 2014 – Cut-off date for appeals against a decision of the Commission;
- 15 April 2014 – Cut-off date for deciding appeals and notifying parties
- 22 April 2014 – CEO to give effect to decisions of the Commission on objections or appeals to the Electoral Court; CEO to compile a list of parties entitled to contest elections;
- 24 April 2014 – Certificates issued to candidates on a final list of candidates;
- 30 April 2014 – Application and casting of special votes outside the Republic;
- 5-6 May 2014 – Visitation for purposes of casting a special vote; casting of special vote at the office of the presiding officer.

Commission Determinations
The Commission has determined the design of the ballot paper, the languages to be used on the ballot paper and manner in which the ballot papers had to be accounted for as required by Section 68 of the Electoral Act, 1998. The reserved number of seats for each region in terms of Item 2(a) of the Schedule 1(A) to the Electoral Act, 1998 was gazetted on 26 February 2014.

Information and Communication Technology (ICT)
- Drills have been undertaken to test the IEC’s disaster recovery plans. These tests were successful;
- Preparations for these elections were advanced. The results systems were undergoing independent audits.
- Soon, political parties would have the opportunity to test the results systems and satisfy themselves that indeed, these systems were fit for purpose
- Systems were in place for the notifications of special vote applications by voters in the country and abroad;
- In every voting station, ‘zip-zips’ would carry the entire voters’ roll, with capability to identify the voting district at which the ‘zip-zip’ was used;
- The ‘Voter Participation Application’ would be activated, with real data on voter participation forming part of the Election report.

Ensuring the Credibility of Elections
Electoral Amendment and related Regulations had been passed and incorporated into training materials;
Measures had been taken to strengthen the role of party agents at voting stations and results-capturing centres at Municipal Electoral Office (MEO) offices;
Counting would commence immediately after the closure of voting stations;
Counting would be done in the presence of party agents and observers;
Results slips would be filled following the conclusion of the count. Party agents should have the opportunity to verify and sign the result slips;
Transparent tamper-proof bags would be used to secure the authenticity of result slips between Voting Stations and MEO offices;
Result slips received at the MEO offices (where results capturing would be taking place) would be recorded to ensure completeness;
Result slip capturing would be done using the double blind tally system – if the first and second capture match, the system would accept the captured results;
Captured results would then be available for results auditing;
Services of independent results auditors have been sourced;
Once confirmed by auditors, the results would undergo systems exceptions testing and if they pass, they would be transmitted on the results boards.
If captured results fail system exceptions testing, then they would be forwarded to a senior Electoral Commission staff member for investigation and resolution;
All results slips would be scanned and stored on the system, with functionality to view them online as may be required by Electoral Commission staff, the media and political party officials;
Political parties and the media would be given access to Electoral Commission’s systems for their own verification and self-assurance concerning results;
Complaints raised by parties would be tracked and measured with respect to the length of time it had taken to resolve them. These records would be available online;
Every objection raised would be allocated a unique identifier and tracked until final determination by Members of the Commission.

Discussion
The Chairperson asked about the voting stations that had been moved and people being properly informed about the process. The Committee had found during the registration process that voters in some instances were not consulted nor properly informed. For instance, there was dissatisfaction in Ward 99 in Khayelitsha where the voting station changed to Cape Town College. It was not clear that the move of the voting stations had been finalised but the Commission should be sensitive about moving stations and they must also revisit the complaints from voters.

During the registration process there was also a problem with voting station closing before people already in the line were attended to. Political parties were called to intervene in those cases and ensure that the stations were opened longer. Also, in some stations there were long queues due to a shortage of Electoral Commission staff working at the voting station. Stations - where long queues should have been expected - were treated the same as other stations. The Electoral Commission needed to provide some assurance that these things would not happen during the upcoming elections.

There were two court cases pending against the Electoral Commission about the legislation passed by the Committee. One was on the voting of South Africans outside their province of registration and the other was about South Africans living abroad not having a provincial vote. What would be the impact of the cases if the finding was that the legislation was unconstitutional? Also, what would the implications of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) court case as the registration for political parties and submission of candidate lists was closing on 12 March? If the court ruled that the deposit did not have to be paid, what impact would that have on the registration of the party?

Mr Moepya replied that moving stations in general was a difficult matter as that affected the lists that had been published by the Electoral Commission. In some instances, a venue that had always been used as a voting station may not available for one occasion, for example, a registration weekend because maybe the venue was a church hall and there was a funeral on that weekend. In those instances the station would move to another facility. In the event that the facility was not used as a voting station altogether, the process would only take place after members of the local Party Liaison Committee (PLC) had all approved the relocation of the voting station to another venue. But the IEC noted that it needed to take extensive efforts in notifying the affected communities. The IEC was also working on addressing the matter of voting stations not closing whilst there were still people in the queue and that would be emphasised for Election Day training.

To address long queues there was the Voter Participation Application as well as up to 25% reserve staff that would be in stations. In these elections, the fact that persons were allowed to vote anywhere in the province did provide a challenge. There were cases where people would go around chasing shorter queues and actually end up crowding one voting station that ordinarily did not have a high number of voters registered to it.

Mr Tselane said he was cautious to comment on court cases that were still pending and the issues could only be dealt with once judgment had been passed. Judgment for the EFF case was expected today.

Judge Thami Makhanya, Commissioner, said in Joubert Park during registration the line was so long that it would not have been possible for the people to be catered before the cutoff time, but the IEC emphasised that the station needed to deal with every person. It was important for officials and Commissioners to move around and emphasise that stations were opened until late if they had to.

The Chairperson said the Commission was not expected to comment on the merits of the case but clearly they could comment on whether the cases could have an impact on the electoral timetable. Might the election date have to change as a result of some of the judgments?

Mr Tselane said what the Chairperson was raising were issues the Commission was asked to respond to by the court and they had submitted a lengthy response to the court. Talking about the impact would mean getting into the details that had been submitted to the court. 
                                                  
Mr M De Freitas (DA) sought clarity on the substations. In reality these were fully fledged voting stations within the same premises. Also, he had never heard of mobile voting stations, and asked how these worked. Under applications for special votes, it was mentioned that there would be voters not voting at the voting stations that they had registered at. In what instances would one not be voting at one’s “original” voting station (outside the special votes)?

He noted that the smartcard ID had been tested for use in the elections. In cases where one registered with their green ID book and came to vote with their smartcard, would these two be linked so the person could vote? Would these elections have the same result centres as in the previous elections, in provinces and also in Pretoria? Also, where would one find the Applications as it was a very interesting piece of technology?

Mr De Freitas asked if the head office procurement issue had tainted the reputation of the Electoral Commission and the operations of the Commission. In Tlokwe there were allegations of corrupt Electoral Commission officials that were siding with a certain political party, this was a very dangerous principle. In general how was that minimised or uprooted by the Electoral Commission?

Mr Tselane said it was of public knowledge that the Public Protector did investigate the procurement matter and a report was available to the public. There were matters in the report that still needed to be attended to. A forensic report was also conducted through Treasury by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC). The Commissioners had received that report and were still consulting on it. The procurement matter had not affected the operations of the organisation. The organisation was focused on delivering the elections and it had been emphasised to the team that the focus was on operations of the organisation and the investigation should not affect any IEC operations.

Tlokwe was also a matter that was before the court. Once the Electoral Court had decided on that, it would then be determined the steps the Commission should be taking about the matter. It was unfortunate that there were certain news articles that were exaggerated and that had led to people being unsettled about the attitude of the IEC regarding the Tlokwe matter.

Mr Moepya said the substations were fully fledged stations; they had a deputy presiding officer that reported to the presiding officer of the station. Voting and counting would take place at the substation and the results would be merged with those of the station as a whole. Hence it was important that the Electoral Amendment Bill dealt with by the Committee had looked at party agents and officials for each of these streams. The staff complement was in line with the concept of a fully fledged station.

Mobile voting stations were a phenomenon particularly in the Northern Cape where there were residents that had large distances between them. The concept was that the mobile station would have a maximum five stopping points with a time allocation for each stop. An indication of where a mobile station would be at closing time was gazetted and that was where counting would take place for all the points the station had stopped. The number of mobile stations had been reduced considerably. There were now 31 mobile stations countrywide. Also, Section 33 of the Electoral Amendment Act said that persons that were bedridden, highly pregnant and frail could apply to be visited on the special voting days.

The smartcards and the green ID documents did talk to each other, the smartcard had two barcodes. The Department of Home Affairs accommodated a request made by the Electoral Commission to include the one dimensional barcode. It was estimated that on Voting Day 150 000 South Africans would vote using their smartcards. There would be a national result operation centre in Tshwane, and every province would have a centre as well.

Mr Libisi Maphanga, Chief Information Officer, said the IEC was in the final stages of testing their Application (App), there was a delay in its registration with the App Stores as there were regulations that caused some difficulties. Most of the problems had been resolved and the Commission was in the final stages. By the end of the month there would be an announcement on the availability and information on the App.

Mr G McIntosh (COPE) asked how many people had registered between 9 February and 25 February in order to understand why the promulgation was delayed. Another concern was about disaster management. Had the Commission considered what would happen if there were power outages and load shedding on Election Day, and were those factored into disaster scenarios.

Mr Moepya said the Commission was well prepared for elections, with the exceptions that Mr Tselane spoke about. The Commission had an ongoing relationship with Eskom and they would be meeting shortly to talk about the programme of the Commission particularly around the 10 days that would be leading up to 7 May and the three days after 7 May. The night of 7 May was critical and arrangements would be made with Eskom and precautions were taken where possible to have backup power.

Regarding the number of people that registered between 9 and 25 February when the voters’ roll was certified, there were at least 20 000 and the majority were on 25 February.

Ms T Gasebonwe (ANC) asked that there be assurance from the Electoral Commission that in volatile areas the Electoral Commission would deploy the South African Police Service (SAPS) to ensure safety. For instance there was an area, during registration, where a group of men came in and burnt scanners and IEC banners and no registration had happened as people were scared for their lives. Also, would not using classrooms as voting stations not affect teaching and learning?

Mr Tselane replied that there were pockets of instability and violence and that was a matter of great concern to the Commission. The first response was a negotiated settlement between the community affected and the authority of that community, and the police would be used as a last resort. The Commission had an excellent relationship with SAPS and the level of cooperation from the Minister and the Commissioner of Police had been commendable and that would continue going into the elections.

Mr Moepya said 7 May 2014 had been proclaimed a public holiday.

Ms P Petersen-Maduna (ANC) asked why the number of registrations at correctional institutions was so low. Also when using the latest statistics from Stats SA for the Voting Age Population, it appeared that the Electoral Commission had not reached its intended target of 80%. Lastly, would there be enough time for the Electoral Commission to implement the Electoral Amendment Act by 7 May.

Mr Tselane said the number provided were the registration of new inmates, as the majority of inmates were already registered.

Mr Moepya said it was important to note that the figures Stats SA recently released were estimates. The Electoral Commission used information from the actual census in 2011 to benchmark against. The Electoral Commission dealt with the actual people when they presented themselves in person at voting stations. The staff was being trained on the Electoral Amendment Act. The fact that there was an international section on the voters’ roll was testimony that the Amendment Act was being implemented and there was full compliance with the Act.

Ms N Mnisi (ANC) said the international segment introduced new challenges to the elections. She asked the Commission to clarify these for the Committee.

Mr Tselane said the major challenge was with catering for resources for all the embassies and the missions that were being used for voting. However, in terms of logistics and operations it was not unmanageable, it was planned for and the Electoral Commission had the capacity to deliver.

Mr Moepya said citizens outside of the Republic had been afforded two registration opportunities. It had been a challenge but the Commission had overcome it. The Electoral Amendment Act was passed on 26 November 2013; the affected people were informed and there were set registration weekends (17/18/19 January 2014 and on 24/25/26 January). The second challenge was related to Election Day, in the Republic the day was a public holiday but outside the Republic it was not but the Commission had agreed to extend voting to nine in the evening in those countries.

The Chairperson thanked the Electoral Commission for the presentation and answering the questions of the Committee. They were satisfied that they were well prepared and South Africa was election-ready. The legitimacy of the elections and democracy of the country rested with the Electoral Commission and that was a big responsibility. 
 
Committee Legacy Report adoption

The Chairperson asked if Members had any specific item they wanted to raise about the draft report. There were no questions or comments and the Committee adopted the report.

Concerns raised by Mr M De Freitas on Regulations of Immigration Legislation
The Chairperson had received a letter from committee member, Mr M De Freitas, on the Regulations that had been published. The Chairperson had tried to get the Department to attend the meeting; however they said the notification to attend the meeting was too short notice. Since the Department was unfortunately not present, it was proposed that the Committee schedule another meeting to deal with the matter.

Mr De Freitas accepted that and the meeting was adjourned.
 

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