AGANGSA vows for free and fair election

AGANGSA vows for free and fair election

By BRIAN KAJENGO

AGANGSA says the three alleged Independent electoral commission have to with draw from the system.

“It is imperative in the interests of a free and fair election that is above reproach, that Adv Pansy Tlakula, Norman du Plessis and Stephen Langtry, the three Independent Electoral Commission officials implicated in tender irregularities by an independent forensic investigation conducted by Price Waterhouse Coopers (PWC) that followed an earlier report from the Office of the Public Protector, stand down from their positions until after the election.” Paul O’Sullivan said.

Paul O’Sullivan says the PWC investigation found that Tlakula had acted improperly to secure office space for the IEC, that the process was not transparent, with hidden beneficiaries to the deal costing the tax-payer R110 in wasted expenditure, that the office space secured was 50% larger than required, no doubt to fill the building owned by hidden benefactors and was rented at well above market rates.

In addition, the investigation found that African National Congress members registered as co-directors with Adv Tlakula of a company which has a stake in the business from which the office space leased.

“With the Public Protector’s findings on Nkandla out of the way for now, we believe the eyes of the nation should be fixed on events at the IEC which have the potential to cast a shadow over the elections on the 7^th May, so we can demand appropriate steps to ensure our elections and democracy remain protected,” says Agang SA spokesman on corruption and forensic consultant, Paul O’Sullivan.

The 2014 election expected to be the most closely contested since 1994. For the first time, the governing ANC is under severe pressure and is increasingly desperate to hold on to power.

For instance, the ANC’s traditional election machinery is stalling, with the African National Congress Youth League (ANCYL) and the Congress of South Africa Trade Unions (COSATU) mere shadows of their former selves, the decision of the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA) to withdraw electoral support from the ANC and begin the process of starting up a new party, and widespread discontent with President Zuma within the ANC.

The scale of protests – 3 000 in the past three months – and the barring of entry to ANC officials in a growing number of communities, is widely regarded as a sign of the mounting unhappiness among the electorate which could result in some ANC officials, as has allegedly occurred in Tlokwe, to take steps towards election fraud.

“Against this background, it is critical that the IEC remains above reproach. It simply cannot do that with Adv Tlakula, du Plessis and Langtry still in their positions,” says O’Sullivan. "The whole nation has come to expect the highest levels of integrity and ethics from the executive of the IEC, in order to maintain the dream that Mandela and so many like him, made their sacrifices. That level of integrity and ethics has now evaporated, placing the oversight of the elections at risk, and calling the whole organisation into doubt. We simply owe Madiba a duty to see that his vision for our country maintained. He suffered for a better country and we just owe him that duty." he said.

In addition, Agang SA party leader Dr Mamphela Ramphele has insisted that teachers, who in the past been deployed to manage polling stations and who are members of the South African Democratic Trade Union (SADTU), which is a COSATU affiliate organization and therefore part of the governing alliance, be removed from this role.

“There is an inherent conflict of interest in SADTU members operating as electoral officers in a multi-party election process.  This is magnified when we have an IEC who's executive are engaged in secret business deals with ANC members, resulting in what can best be described as a fraud ont he nation. In addition, when do they do their primary duties if they play the electoral officer role that demands so much attention to detail?” asks Ramphele.

“Along with other parties, we intend raising these and other matters, that are concerning us with the IEC when we meet in the next few weeks,” says Ramphele.

Among the questions parties will put to the IEC are: who has won the tender to print ballot papers and the basis for their selection; which auditing firm will oversee the count ballots and on what basis was the audit firm chosen; whether the ballots have serial numbers; what security exists to ensure non-tampering with ballots; under what circumstances are extra ballots printed, stored, and distributed to voting stations? 

The IEC should also spell out, says Ramphele, how it intends to protect the election against potential voter fraud, particularly in far-flung rural areas. 

“Political Parties need to have sufficient time to engage with the IEC to ensure the required checks and balances are in place, so we are anxiously waiting for the meeting with the IEC,” says Ramphele.

“It is going to be crucial to these elections that we motivate for and get national scrutiny of this election from suitably independent and international election monitors who can monitor behaviour such as the use of cell phones by political party activists to intimidate or bribe voters into taking photos of their completed ballot paper in exchange for rewards for voting the right way.” says O’Sullivan. "Rumours of this intended vote-buying have become more prevalent and it has to be stamped out immediately, with anyone seen photographing their vote having same declared invalid," he concluded.

At stake, says Ramphele, is the integrity of the election which forms the bedrock of South Africa’s emerging democracy that struggle heroes fought and died for.