Question NW3056 to the Minister of Home Affairs

Reply:

Responses provided by the Department of Home Affairs, Government Printing Works and Electoral Commission are given below:

(i)  Department of Home Affairs

(a) Red tape is defined as the excessive bureaucracy or procedures marked by complexities of processes which in most cases result in delays or failure to take any action.

(b)(i-ii) The department has put in place policies, guidelines and standard operating procedures to ensure smooth operations in compliance with the laws and mandate of the department.

(aa-bb) The department’s audit coverage plan focuses on various auditable areas with a sole purpose of identifying weaknesses in the internal control environment and reduces bottlenecks.

(ii) According to the Government Printing Works

(a) The Government Printing Works (GPW) might define red tape as bureaucratic processes that hinder and slow the work of the organisation. However it is not a term that the GPW uses in its business processes as it is very imprecise.

(b)(i-ii) As a government-owned manufacturing concern, the GPW does not encounter much “red tape” in its work, and has not needed to devise specific processes to deal with such red tape.

(iii) According to the Electoral Commission

(a) The Electoral Commission does not use a peculiar definition of red tape. It applies the common use of the term based on the South African Concise Oxford Dictionary. This dictionary defines the term as follows: “excessive bureaucracy or adherence to rules, especially in public business”

(b)(i-ii) In terms of the Regulations on Party Liaison the Electoral Commission has established Party Liaison Committees (PLC’s) in the three spheres of government. The primary function of the PLC’s is a consultations mechanism with political parties. These structures also provide crucial feedback on the efficacy on the systems and processes of the Electoral Commission. Based on some of these feedback legislative and operational policies are amended to reduce red-tape.

Ahead of elections the Electoral Commission commissions a Voter Participation Survey. This survey, on a representative sample basis, collects the views of South African citizens on the forthcoming elections. A special area of focus in this survey is the barriers to participation. Based on the outcome of the survey appropriate adjustments are made to the programmes of the Electoral Commission in order to ameliorate barriers to voter participation.

Furthermore on Election Day, a Voter Satisfaction Survey is commissioned on a representative sample of voting stations. This survey collect the vies of voters on their experiences of the voting process including assessing areas such as coercion to voting or voting for a particular political party, the simplicity of the voting process, the secrecy of the vote, the helpfulness of voting staff etc. The results of the voting satisfaction survey are used in planning subsequent electoral events including by elections.