By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) has confirmed that the official who leaked the African National Congress’ and MK Party Parliament list, has been fired.
In a statement, “The IEC said its preliminary investigation shows that the documents were generated from a work station in its headquarters, before they were deleted.”
“The commission confirms that the implicated official’s contract with the commission has been terminated.”
IEC’s chief electoral officer Sy Mamabolo confirmed the employee has been dismissed.
He added that they had engaged with the official, but could not get the motive for leaking the lists of both political parties.
Mamabolo said there were only two parties affected, and the official whose credentials were found to be used in the leak − although information was later deleted at the work station − has been asked to provide reasons why action should not be taken against her.
He defended the credibility of the IEC despite the very early leak of sensitive information from within its own ranks.
“The credibility of the commission is not dependent on a single factor [the leak].
“The incident is revolting and ought not to have happened but that is not the totality of the credibility of the commission,” Mamabolo said.
Mamabolo also discussed the IEC’s voter roll, which is expected to be certified on Tuesday and published in provincial and municipal offices.
According to Mamabolo, a record 27.79 million voters are registered ahead of the national and provincial elections on 29 May. This is 9.6 million (35%) more than during the 2019 elections, where 26.7 million voters were registered.
Meanwhile the Democratic Alliance (DA) says its decision to reach out the United States (US) to intervene in the upcoming national and provincial elections is not meant to cast doubt on the Electoral Commission of South Africa’s (IEC) ability to run the elections.
The DA’s shadow minister for international relations Emma Louise said the DA request was not only made to the US but nations both across the “global north and south” including Zambia and to the African Union (AU).
President Cyril Ramaphosa slammed the DA for reaching out to the US to intervene in the upcoming national and provincial election, saying the party was “mortgaging the country’s democracy.”
“We invite them and say do come and monitor. But now, for a non-state entity to do something like that is basically saying we are mortgaging our democracy. We deal with regional, continental and global organisations and we invite them.
“So, we think it’s quite disingenuous and it seems to be another agenda that underpins that. We will want obviously our elections to be transparent, to be well-held as they’ve been in the past,” Ramaphosa said.
The United States (US) Embassy in South Africa has praised the Electoral Commission of South Africa’s (IEC) ability to run free and fair elections in the country.
US Embassy spokesperson David Feldmann says the IEC has an “excellent reputation”.
“South Africa is a sovereign democracy that runs its own electoral processes. The Independent Electoral Commission has a longstanding and excellent reputation for conducting free and fair elections.”