IEC proves its critics wrong

It has been a stressful election season for Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) head Mosotho Moepya, but his strides across the national results centre in Tshwane tells a different story – that of a man on a mission.

Moepya was a facilitator of what has been described as one of the most highly contested elections in South Africa, leaving little room for sleep for him or his team.

Since the vote on Wednesday, Moepya has been central in keeping every IEC division in check while squeezing in, at least, four media briefings a day at the state-of-the-art centre in Pretoria, which was buzzing with politicians and media monitoring the results as they trickled in.

Moepya was able to spare a few minutes for City Press in his makeshift office. He candidly referred to it as “umkhukhu” – a shack. But a lot of effort has gone into making it resemble an office – it’s been fitted with a couch and a big plasma TV screen, where he can watch everything going on at the centre, just a short walk away.

It is in this room where important meetings are held with IEC chair Vuma Mashinini and deputy chief electoral officer Sy Mamabolo. On Wednesday, their meeting seemingly ended on a good note as they shared a few laughs before Mashinini walked out with Mamabolo in tow.

Moepya has had to deal with many election problems ahead of election day, while at the same time striving to change perceptions that the institution had lost its independence and credibility.

For Moepya, these elections presented a chance to “prove the naysayers wrong”.

“People have written off the IEC, labelling it a damaged product. We have always said that our actions will speak better for us. Part of going into this election was a test. People were [wondering], ‘Are these guys going to pass this test?’ I don’t know, you will tell us,” he said.

The IEC had been a ship sailing on rough seas, Moepya said. He said that Tlokwe in North West was one of the organisation’s biggest headaches, as was the demarcation process in some areas.

“To be honest, Tlokwe was one of our biggest challenges. It started small and ended big. The problem itself is not big, the perception of it is. There is a perception that [we] want to rob the elections.”

As if that was not enough, Moepya was caught in the middle of a storm as interparty tensions escalated, leading to a number of councillors losing their lives, mainly in KwaZulu-Natal.

Moepya said another factor that had affected the IEC was the amount of litigation it had to deal with. The National Freedom Party went to court to try to overturn the commission’s decision to disqualify it from participating in the elections after it failed to pay its registration fees in time.

The IEC was also accused of being reluctant to act against the ANC, but too quick to act against other parties.

Moepya said contestation for votes was high everywhere because people had left established parties to form their own or stand as independents. They then came out and made allegations against their previous political homes, which reflected internal political dynamics that he knew nothing about.

He said others made noise about the rigging of elections through special votes.

“This is the way we used to rig elections and this is why we rigged it,” the breakaway faction would tell him once free of their parties.

He said that each time he heard these stories, he would ask to be shown how the rigging was done, but the people raising the alarm about the possible rigging of elections would refuse to divulge details.

“In my world, perceptions are as good as reality. Although no one has shown me how elections are rigged with special votes, they have a sense that there is a way of rigging them. On my word of honour, there isn’t a case where that happened. In all instances where there was a claim of an irregularity, we checked and found no evidence to substantiate the claims,” he said.

Moepya also challenged doomsayers who claimed that the IEC would not declare results if there was a change of government from the ANC to another party. He cited Nelson Mandela Bay, Midvaal and Western Cape, where the DA has the majority of votes, as clear examples where power changed hands peacefully.

Moepya admitted that he sometimes became emotional, especially regarding all the “unfounded” and “damaging” allegations against his team and the commission in general. He said he had the greatest respect for the people he worked with.

“I get emotional when I speak about it. Yes, we will have people who have an interest that is hidden. But to say all or a majority of them are [corrupt], I just want to tell you folks that it can never be alright.”

Moepya said he has established close relationships with chairs of other electoral organisations across the continent to share knowledge and good practice. He was also aware of the kinds of things that pulled people’s reputations down and the repercussions that followed. He recalled how chaos reigned in Kenya after its electoral commission chairperson was forced to declare results in favour of a loser in 2007 through state media. This happened even before the counting process was concluded.

“You cannot have a country going to war because you have messed up. I don’t want to be that person,” he said.

In which areas do you think the IEC needs to improve?

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