IEC on Local Government Elections 2016 readiness; North West Municipality Interventions: progress report; Madibeng Municipality Intervention: briefing by Administrator

Meeting report

Opening Remarks

The Chairperson said it was a great honour to have the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) delegation before the Committee. He welcomed the MEC from the North West, Ms Fenny Gaolaolwe, and the Executive Mayor of Madibeng, Ms Jostina Mothibe.

IEC Presentation: Readiness to hold 2016 local government elections

Mr Vuma Mashinini, IEC Chairperson, told the Committee that Monday, 23 May, had been proclamation day for the 2016 local government elections, and was regarded as a major milestone that the IEC had accomplished following the signing of the code of conduct last week by the national representatives of political parties. The IEC was now left with the certification of the voters’ roll and also receiving of nominations of candidates for the upcoming local government elections. It hoped that the country would host another peaceful election that would be free and fair.

Mr Mosotho Moepya, CEO of the IEC, gave a brief overview of the state of readiness and preparation for the upcoming elections.

The IEC would go into the elections with the delimitation process that had been concluded on 15 December 2015. It had undertaken to ensure that every settlement had a voting facility, and as a result the country would have 22 617 voting stations countrywide. This was an increase of 54%. In the presentation provided, there was a map which showed the areas in which the voting stations were located. Areas with a darker shade indicated where challenges were expected to happen during the elections. These included the Northern Cape, and the IEC was working on curbing those challenges.

With the 54% increase in voting facilities since the 1999 elections, it was clear that there were more voters and more stations. This meant voters would travel less of a distance to voting stations and this would assist the IEC in providing an efficient and effective service. The two registration weekends on 5 - 6 March and 9 -10 April had been a success, and the IEC had taken the opportunity to register new voters.

The voters’ roll was currently standing at 26.3 million people, which was a growth of 44.6%. Many people had visited municipal offices in order to register, and those numbers had not been included in the presentation. There were more women registered on the voters’ roll (14.4 million) in comparison to men (11.8 million).  The IEC had been successful in their task to recruit and register more people under the age of 30, with 80% of new registrations being from people in that age group. The Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo and Gauteng had a substantially higher number of voters in terms of the voting age population as opposed to other provinces such as the Free State, Northern Cape and Western Cape. There were 357 registered political parties in all the provinces, with the Western Cape having the highest number of parties registered, followed by Limpopo.

The IEC had party liaison committees functioning in the provincial and local sphere of government. It had also extended an invitation to unrepresented political parties in order to brief them on preparations for the elections as well as matters with which they would need to comply regarding candidacy, where there were intentions to contest the elections. The IEC was working closely with the joint structures and all spheres of government where there would be ongoing monitoring of conditions that prevailed in the country, and taking note of security measures in areas where the elections were to take place. There had been extensive consultations hosted with stakeholders through the National Coordinating Forum where observers, conflict resolution panelists and educators may be involved in the elections. Conflict resolution panels had been established and were functional in every province.

Extensive communication on every electoral process had been held, where cut-off dates in terms of cut-off dates as per the electoral timetable had been emphasised. There was a good working relationship with the Inter-Ministerial Committee on elections and portfolio committees, and the IEC appreciated the assistance received from the committees. The IEC had worked extensively with the Department of Home Affairs, which had kept its offices open for every electoral event held by the IEC. On election day, the Department would also be open throughout election hours.

There were approximately 220 000 electoral staff members that were to be recruited and trained for the upcoming elections, and recruitment was currently at an advanced stage.  The Presiding and Deputy Presiding officers had already been trained and were on board, with their training almost complete. The training materials had been revised and adopted in relation to the changes in the Electoral Amendment Act and had been incorporated into the new training curriculum. The training curriculum was modular in approach, which helped the IEC in organising and emphasising training content.

An election timetable would be drafted by the Electoral Commission and consultations would be held with political parties represented in the National Parties Liaison Committee (NPLC). The election timetable would be gazetted and would set dates for the opening of special vote applications, dates for election day, and for the opening of nominations of candidates and consultations concluded with parties in the NPLC, and other activities related to the 2016 local government elections. The Commission had already determined the design of the ballot paper, the languages to be used on the ballot paper and way in which they had to be accounted for as required by sections 23 and 24 of the Local Government:Municipal Electoral Act. The voting hours of voting had also been determined by the Commission.

Much had been asked about the credibility of the elections and the Commission was determined to administer elections that produced an outcome that would be in the best interest of the voters, and an enormous amount of effort had been put into ensuring that this happened. These included:

• the training of parties on the new candidate nomination system together with the staff;
• drills being undertaken to test the IED’s disaster recovery plan;
• the result systems were undergoing independent audits and the outcome of the audits would be made known by 11 June, and;
• political parties would have a period to test the systems once they were a given a certificate of compliance by the audit firms.

The Commission was committed to undertaking two dry runs. These were processes where simulation would take place before election day. The dry runs were extremely crucial as they tested the systems and the training of staff, and ensured the political parties understood and appreciated the work that the Commission did. The IEC had also invited political parties to be part of the dry runs.

To ensure that the elections were free and fair, the Electoral Amendment Act and related regulations had been passed and had now been incorporated into training materials and were being published. The role of party agents had been strengthened and the Commission was satisfied. The counting of votes would be done in the presence of party agents and observers and the results slips would be completed at each voting station and signed-off by the Presiding Officer, the observers who were present, as well as party agents during counting. Ernst and Young were the auditors who would be ensuring that all the votes had been captured, and all that had been captured and reflected on the system was exactly the same.  

The CEO explained the Constitutional Court matter, following the Electoral Court judgment in the Kham & Others vs The Independent Electoral Commission & Another, where the Electoral Commission had approached the Constitutional Court for clarity on whether the absence of a voter’s address in the voters’ roll invalidated the voters’ roll. Another issue of concern was what the terms “…where such addresses were available” in the context of section 16 of the Electoral Act meant, and what the Constitutional Court had meant in terms of its order when it referred to the prospective application of its order in the Kham matter. The arguments had been heard in the Constitutional Court on 9 May 2016 and judgment had been reserved.

The voters’ roll before the registration weekend had 65% of the addresses either referred to as partial addresses or no addresses, and 35% addresses had been complete. Following the registration weekend, with 26.3 million people in the voters’ roll, the address issue had had a significant change, with 54% complete addresses and 46% with partial or no complete addresses.

Discussion

Ms B Engelbrecht (DA, Gauteng) said that in Gauteng, posters were being defaced and because the Commission was committed to ensuring fair elections, what were their recommendations on how to handle the situation. She asked for confirmation on what the voting hours were and whether there would there be additional scanners and voting papers, and sufficient officials because there had not been enough during the registration weekend.

Mr M Mhlanga (ANC, Mpumalanga) asked for clarity on what systems were going to be used at the voting stations and whether voting stream systems would be undertaken. Would the Presiding Officers would be rotated, or did the Commission prefer keep the officers at one station, because he had noticed that some presiding officers did not get moved.

Ms G Manopole (ANC, Northern Cape) asked if there were any plans in place to include people with incomplete or no residential addresses in the elections. 

Mr S Thobejane (ANC, Limpopo) said his questions would be focused on rural communities, as he was one who came from a rural community. He asked the Commission how it expected to receive an address from people who lived in informal settlements and rural areas with poor living conditions and no visible streets. Would the Commission still continue to employ teachers as presiding officers and staff members -- was it not interested in helping to curb unemployment in the country by hiring unemployed graduates?

The Chairperson asked what the IEC would be doing to ensure that the people who lived in areas where there had recently been violent protests, like Vuwani, were not disenfranchised as a result. On Monday, the PAC leader had reported that the votes had been rigged during the 1994 elections and the EFF leader had gone to the media to report that in those same elections, votes in Alexandra had been rigged. Given the trends that were evident in this country, he asked why the IEC had not gone out to provide clarity on these statements or allegations. Were they planning on doing anything about these allegations? 

The CEO mentioned that there was a code of conduct provided by the law which was prescribed by the IEC and it views vandalism of posters as a criminal activity.  With regards to MsEngelbrecht’s question about back-up scanners, every scanner was serviced and ready for elections. He highlighted that the Commission was ahead of its time and there would be no shortages. The Chairperson said there would be another round of question to follow and then handed over to MrMashinni.

Mr Mashinini started off by addressing Ms Manopole’s question regarding the contingency plans. The simple answer was that the Commission was in a position to make sure and undertake that other state institutions helped with finding identifiers in areas where there were no residential addresses.

With regard to the hiring of teachers, the facts indicated something that was contrary to what Mr Thobejane had mentioned, as well as the perception regarding the hiring of teachers. The IEC used to hire civil servants but now that had changed, with almost 6% being civil servants such as teachers. The reason was that most of the buildings used by the IEC were schools, and in most cases schools had concerns related to the security of their facilities. The Commission had a constitutional responsibility to ensure that the elections were conducted in a manner that was compliant with the rules and the Commission reserved the authority, as well as the responsibility, of making the ultimate decision on the suitability or unsuitability of a person. The Laboor Laws also guided the hiring process and the Commission would not compromise the capability of its employees. It was aware of the socio-economic status of young South Africans and did hire and train graduates as well as young unemployed people to assist with the election process, and more than 80% of those employed were young people.

Regarding the issue of rotating presiding officers, Mr Mashinini stressed that the IEC was in search of the best teams running an election and could not afford a single mistake -- there had to be optimum certainty from the Commission that the officers were competent and efficient. Teachers were among the people with the administrative capabilities required to perform the work of presiding officers. The Commission had the prerogative to make the determination of who was suitable for the tasks that they were required to do and those that it was held accountable for, and that was the one of the reasons why the teachers were hired.

The IEC was working together with the provinces where people were discontented with service delivery and protesting, and was working on reducing the amount of violence.  

The last question that Mr Mashinini addressed was that of the narrative around the rigging of votes. He said that common sense dictated that the Commission should and did not engage in political debates, and so the narrative was simply not true.

Mr Moepya addressed the question of what the IEC recommended should be done in cases of vandalism and a violation of the code of conduct. He said that the law provided that the Commission must prescribe a code of conduct and get parties to sign it. The code was binding on all political parties, leaders, supporters and media. Anyone who broke it could, and should, be reported to the Electoral Court, which had the same ranking as the High Court. Anyone was allowed to report offences. Acts of vandalism of posters must be condemned by everyone, and not just by the Commission, as that was a criminal activity according to the law, and criminal activities should be reported.

With regard to the issue of scanners and other equipment possibly being in short supply, the CEO ensured Ms Engelbrecht that every scanner had been serviced and was ready for the elections. The Commission was ahead of time -- there would be no shortage of ballot papers, and there had never been a shortage before.  Voting streams would be used, numbers would be broken down and streams would be used in alphabetical order.

Ms Engelbrecht asked for the confirmation of voting hours, and questioned why the IEC could not use the information that cellphone service providers had for cellphone users because the law required that every cellphone user registered their cellphone number and in that registration there had to be the physical address of the cellphone user.

Mr Thobejane asked about the budget that the Commission was operating on and whether they would be able to execute all its responsibilities that the IEC.

MrMashinini clarified that sometimes the issue of the cellphone database that existed was complex because some cellphones were not registered in the users’ name and one found that the phones were handed down from family members. In those cases, the actual addresses were unable to be obtained and the use of that information was therefore not practical, as it was sometimes impossible to locate the people. An example would be people living in rural areas with cellphones --sometimes one found that the cellphone was registered in the name of a family member who lived and worked in town but the actual user of the phone did not have an address, and it was those people that the Commission was struggling to locate.

MrMashinini said the voting hours would be from 7am to 7pm in voting stations and as a matter of policy, even if it was after 7pm, people who were still waiting at voting stations would be allowed to vote.

The CEO addressed the question of whether there was sufficient budget, and mentioned that  they have spent a significant amount of money and were in consultation with the National Treasury, and were in control of the situation.

The Chairperson thanked the IEC delegation for the extensive presentation and stressed that this was one Committee that was continuously engaging with municipalities. The relationship with the IEC was of paramount importance and he hoped that together more work could be done in the service of the country.

Madibeng Municipality Intervention

Mr Ephraim Motoko, Head of Department (HOD): Department of Local Governance and Human Settlement (DLG& HS), North West Province, said the Department had appointed an assessment team in terms of Local Government Municipal Systems Act, No 32 of 2000, Section 106 (1)(b) to investigate whether the municipalities fulfilled their statutory obligations. The situation of the municipalities had necessitated that the MEC responsible for the DLG&HS to institute Section 139 (1)(b) of the Constitution.

Mr Motoko gave a brief review of the reasons for the intervention. One of the problems encountered was that of poor water and sanitation provision, which often resulted in the disruption of the water supply. Other reasons for intervention were:

•  Poor governance and management of council matters by the council;
•  Poor leadership and oversight by council;
• Breach of the code of conduct by councillors;
• Poor relations between the council and the administration;
• Poor financial management;
• Lack of administrative capacity within the municipal administrations;
• Vacant critical senior management positions;
• The municipalities had incurred long-standing debt with Eskom, the water boards, and financing institutions such as the Public Investment Corporation (PIC);
• Poor audit outcomes.

The Chairperson asked Mr Motoko to skip the discussion on each of the local municipalities and rather proceed to the achievements of the Department after the interventions.

There was now a functioning ward committee system in Matlosana local municipality, with the ward committee members receiving a stipend of R1 000 each. In terms of service of delivery, the DLG&HS of North West had restored the provision of water in all the prime areas which had been a target for the Department. These areas had included Matlosana and the communities surrounding it.  There had been refurbishment of a water treatment plant. In Tswaing local municipality, the Department had succeeded in refurbishing the water treatment plant and had improved the water supply system. In Ventersdorp, ward committees were still dysfunctional and the Department was looking into the situation. There was still a problem of having vacant senior positions in the municipality. The municipality had a debt that it still needed to be settled with Eskom.

Madibeng Presentation

Ms K Mogamisi, Administrator: Water and Sanitation, Madibeng Local Municipality, said that the reasons for the intervention and the background of the municipality had already been mentioned by the HOD, Mr Motoko. The North West Province Executive Committee, on 23 March 2015, had resolved to invoke section 139[1](b) of the Constitution on water and sanitation service provision due to:

• Poor water and sanitation service provision, which resulted in frequent water interruptions because of infrastructure failures;
• Poor water quality;
• Uneven provision of services and poor operation as well as maintenance of water infrastructure, which had resulted in service delivery protests in areas such as Majakenen, Letlhabile, Jericho and Mmakau.

The reasons for the Department’s intervention had been to respond to emergency challenges in the so-called hot spots where refurbishment and the drilling of boreholes were a prime demand. Ms Mogamisi said she would highlight the challenges, which included:

• The challenge of non-revenue water or water losses which was estimated at 50% and which was mainly due to leakages and illegal water connections;
• An outdated water master plan due to lack of funds;
• Illegal water connections on both bulk and reticulation infrastructure;
• The “War on Leaks” programme, which was not aligned with municipal resources;
• Old and dilapidated infrastructure that broke frequently and caused water shortage, sometimes resulting in community unrest and leading to high costs of repairs and maintenance;
• Delays in the appointment of contractors for capital projects;
• A stoppage of projects by community members, who were demanding sub-contracting opportunities;
• The delayed handover of the Hartebeespoort pump stations by the Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS), which had created uncertainty regarding the responsibility for their operation and maintenance;
• All four wastewater treatment works had been refurbished but were already in a bad state, partly due to a maintenance backlog;
• Tshwane had requested the municipality to reduce its dependency on water supply and come up with an exit strategy;
• Creditors were not paid on time;
• Fruitless and wasteful expenditure was increasing due to interest charged on late payments;
• Poor revenue collection -- not all metered households were billed;
• Government debts were not serviced;
• The delay in resolving the issue of the Brits water treatment works (WTW) project stoppage. The project had been stopped on 1 February and this had impacted negatively on the water supply as it had been scheduled to be completed in August 2016 and would have alleviated the water shortage challenge in areas like Lethlabile, Mothotlung, Mmakau, Maboloka and Modderspruit.
• Magalies Water, as the implementing agent, delaying in implementing projects, putting the municipality at a risk of losing funding, where R 20 million had already been taken.

Achievements obtained in hotspots after the Intervention:

• In the area of Jericho, before the intervention there had been only four out of ten sections that had a constant water supply and there had been illegal connections on the main pipeline. The illegal connections were being attended to and the first phase of the project entailing 1.8km of rising main, 3x air valve chambers and 2x water meter chambers had been completed in April.
• In Letlhabile, there had been a challenge of not enough water supply reaching all areas due to low pressure from the reservoir. Areas in the ward such as Centerville and Block B, I and G, had been without water for more than five years. After the intervention, the illegal connections had been disconnected, leaks had been detected and repaired, three new boreholes had been drilled and would be equipped. Block B, F, G, H and I were now receiving water, even though the water supply did not cover all areas.
• In Maboloka there had been no water in certain areas before the intervention and meters had been non-functional, even though they were installed. There was also low pressure from the Maboloka reservoir. After the intervention in Maboloka, leakages had been detected and repaired and there had been a refurbishment of ten boreholes. More work still needed to be done and the Department needed to request funding for areas not covered during the current project.
• Before the intervention, Mmaku had experienced an intermittent water supply due to the high water demand and inadequate bulk water supply from the Brits WTW through the Mothotlung reservoir. After the intervention, Mmaku now had an expansion of the Brits WTW by 20ML/d, with seven boreholes drilled and energised.
• In Modderspruit, areas such as Tornado had been without water for over two years and after the intervention, leaks had been detected and repaired, and there had been a drastic improvement in water supply following the disconnection of illegal connections and the management of pressure.
• Majakaneng was known as one of the most troublesome areas before the intervention -- the whole of Majakaneng reticulation and its delivery points had major water leakages which was due to vandalism to the water supply system. After the intervention, boreholes had been equipped and connected to the system, with over 70% of the community receiving water.
• Some parts of Letlhabile, like block B, I, F, and Vulindlela had received water for the first time after more than five years and the situation would improve even more after the completion of the current project.
• The operation of the Brits WTW had been optimized, and this had resulted in increased production.
• The programme of cleaning 23 reservoirs had started on 3 May 2016 and was scheduled to be completed by 21 June 2016.
• Mmakau, Jericho, Majakaneng and Modderspruit were no longer classified as “hotspots.”

The Madibeng Municipality had the following recommendations to present to the Committee;

• Strengthening of the intervention team by deploying a person with financial expertise to assist with financial management and to spearhead revenue enhancement.
• Assistance with funding of identified hotspots that were not funded.
• Review credit control and debt collection by-laws in order to add inputs, such as implementing credit control measures on pre-paid meters.
• Implement a complaints management system and source funding to replace faulty meters.

The Chairperson asked if the MEC, Ms Gaolaolwe, had anything to add to the Madibeng presentation.

The MEC thanked the Chairperson and said that the Department of Local Government and Human Settlement as well as the Department of Finance, Economy and Enterprise Development (FEED) had agreed to work together to try and assist municipalities in providing good service delivery to the people of North West. In terms of appointing people to the senior management vacancies in the council, the Department had issued instructions to the municipality by saying that they should submit advertisements to the Department first, prior to publicizing them.

The Chairperson thanked the officials for their presentation, and said he was not sure what should be done with the reports. He suggested that there should be physical oversight in the area, with the collaboration of the Department of Water Affairs, and a proper investigation into the area.

Ms Jostina Mothibe, Executive Mayor of Madibeng, said they would appreciate a visit from the Select Committee, as well as its assistance with the challenges it was facing, especially those concerning water and sanitation. As the administrator had mentioned, the project of the Brits purification plant was still at a standstill and the project had stopped because the community had demands which the Department could not meet. The Committee’s intervention would be appreciated.

Ms Engelbrecht asked how ward committee members could receive a stipend of R1 000 per person. She found it difficult to understand how the municipality could justify paying that money and how would they sustain these stipends. She said that she was very glad to meet the Mayor because she had a lot of property in Madibeng, and admitted that she did not receive any accounts from Madibeng. She had tried to reach the area’s financial services department and had found that they had a non-functional revenue department. She though that this was huge tragedy and would like a response.

Ms Manopole welcomed the progress that had been made so far in Madibeng, but was bothered by the weakness of the revenue collection and asked what plans o they had to combat this issue, because it seemed as if not much work had been done to date.

Mr Mhlanga asked, with regard to Madibeng, what had caused the people to put a stop to the projects.

The MEC addressed the issue of stipends and said that the stipends were determined by council, and that there was a national policy that stated that there should be a stipend. The province was experiencing a serious challenge regarding revenue collection, and would soon be launching a rates payment campaign in Madibeng where there would be an engagement with all stakeholders in order to come to an agreement on how and when payments should be made.  

Mr Motoko addressed the issue of revenue enhancement and said that the Department was assisting local municipalities in this regard.  It was currently visiting the municipalities in order to make sure that the billing systems worked and that they were able to identify all revenue streams in those municipalities.

The Chairperson asked the Department why it had not reported the people who had stopped the project to other state organs, such as the South African Police Service (SAPS), and reported the threats made by the communities. The Madibeng Executive Mayor had said they had reported the cases, but had always been able to resolve the issues after having reported them to the SAPS.  The Chairperson asked the Executive Mayor to elaborate on their reports on what measure had been taken to address the issue of threats from the community, because failure to do so createdan impression that nothing was being done.

The Chairperson mentioned that a lot of deficiencies had been picked up in the presentation, and it was their duty as the Select Committee not to leave section 139 (1) (b) of the Constitution being invoked but to ensure that it yielded results.

Ms Engelbrecht said she felt the need to raise the issue of stipends paid to the Ward Committee members again, as it sounded like the MEC was just accepting the status quo. However, these municipalities had been placed under administration according to Section 139 (1)(b) and it was the administrator who held the executive authority to look at all revenue and all expenses. She said that the stipend was exorbitant given the circumstances, especially in the context of a municipality that was battling with revenue collection and with high expenses, and she expected the issue to be addressed by the administrator as well as the MEC as a matter of urgency. 

The Chairperson said there were commendable efforts that had been picked up from the presentation but there had been discrepancies as well, and intervention was not a permanent feature and fixture. There had to be a way for the Committee, as well as the North West DLG&HS, to meet and come up with strategies to tackle the outstanding challenges.

On behalf of the Committee, Mr Thobejane thanked the officials from North West for coming to share information with the Committee and said that they were indeed complying with the constitution by cooperating and working together in helping each other to execute the responsibility bestowed upon them by the constitution.

The meeting was adjourned.