Rehana Rossouw
November’s local government election could be even more=20 chaotic than last year’s national elections in which=20 the Independent Election Commission (IEC) was given=20 only three months to prepare for a poll in which 19- million people participated, former IEC chairman Mr=20 Justice JC Kriegler warned this week.
“We were given three months to perform an unprecedented=20 task. No one knew what the venture entailed and I would=20 suggest the vast majority of people in this country=20 still don’t know,” said Kriegler.
He asked that future elections, particularly November’s=20 poll, be organised by a standardised body with=20 permanent structures. “Without this in place, you could=20 have the same situation with the next election. Already=20 there are only five months left to organise the local=20
Kriegler’s grim warning came as Provincial Affairs=20 Minister Roelf Meyer committed the government to=20 elections on November 1 — despite raging boundary wars=20 in the Western Cape, Gauteng and KwaZulu/Natal.
“We faced an inordinately difficult administrative=20 task. On Christmas eve 1993 we employed our first staff=20 member and by the end of April there were 300 000=20 people employed. No organisation can do that and still=20 maintain financial and administrative control,” he said
“Although we had qualified auditors in every=20 directorate and provincial branch of the IEC, and had=20 internal audits from January, the expansion was too=20 rapid and the auditors couldn’t cope.”
Kriegler and his senior staffers were grilled on=20 Wednesday by Parliament’s select committee on finance=20 about the grim report by the auditor general on the=20 IEC’s financial losses.
The report found there is still R5,8-million=20 outstanding and recoverable for fraud, over-payment of=20 staff and IEC administrative errors. Included in this=20 figure is R2,8-million fraud discovered in the=20 information technology directorate and R1-million=20 related to over-payment of seconded employees.
Stolen computers amounted to a loss of R5-million. Of 3=20 291 vehicles bought, 99 were “lost” and 31 written off.=20 The IEC bought 2 450 cellular phones and 155 were=20 reported stolen. R1,2-million worth of equipment was=20 not insured. Only five people have been arrested on=20 charges of fraud and there has been one conviction=20 since April 1994.
ANC MP and chair of the parliamentary select committee=20 on finance, Gill Marcus, said parliament’s task was not=20 to detail each fault of the IEC, but to ensure that its=20 problems were not repeated.
“Where do we go with the local government elections? We=20 don’t know how many voting points there are going to=20 be, it seems we have as little time now to prepare as=20 the IEC had and are going to repeat this situation a=20 thousand-fold,” Marcus said.
“We are probably going to face the same pressure as the=20 IEC and forgo the rules again because there isn’t=20 enough time. We have to ensure that we have sufficient=20 capacity for the election.”
Kriegler said the IEC only knew the final number of=20 voters participating, and voting stations required, 10=20 days before the election took place. This made it=20 impossible to do any detailed strategic planning=20
He warned that unless the electoral machinery consisted=20 of staff who had an opportunity to build working=20 relationships, its venture would be doomed to failure.
“Whenever you put together an ad hoc organisation which=20 blooms today and dies tommorrow, there will be massive=20 problems. I hope we ensure that elections are never run=20 again on an ad hoc basis by an ad hoc organisation,” he=20
Kriegler suggested that the November poll and all=20 future elections be run by officials at “grassroots”=20 level — the town clerks, meter-readers and other=20 council fulltime officials.
“These people are employed on a permanent basis and can=20 receive ongoing training in organising and running=20 elections. This method works well in almost all=20 Commonwealth countries,” he said.