Thuli Nhlapo
The Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) in Mpumalanga has deposited tens of thousands of rands in tribal authority bank accounts as part of a scheme to get tribal leaders to help reach voters.
The IEC in Mpumalanga confirmed this week that it had given seven traditional leaders R10 000 each for hosting “imbizos” at which the IEC could conduct voter-education sessions. All the communities involved are African National Congress strongholds.
Steven Ngwenya, IEC provincial electoral officer, said each province was given a contingency budget and a right to decide on the best strategy to use to reach voters.
Ngwenya said it was his decision to opt for granting traditional leaders R10 000 to organise a feast. Traditional leaders were keen to cooperate with the IEC but were subject to financial constraints.
Inkhosi Mbuyane of Klau-Klau said: “This IEC wants to give a speech and they have their own programme. If I attend their event I am also going to be a guest. It therefore makes sense for them to pay for that kind of imbizo because it is not the subject and inkhosi’s event, but the IEC with its own agenda.”
Mbuyane said he had asked the IEC to use the community hall or a school but it wanted to use his kraal or the tribal authority offices for the event. When asked why the IEC could not call a meeting itself, Mbuyane said: “They think as chiefs we are stupid but I know exactly what they are trying to achieve. I would not stand in their way but I am not party to that imbizo.”
Mbuyane is still waiting for the IEC to deposit money into the tribal authority’s bank account.
Ngwenya said traditional leaders had been asked to prepare a budget on how much they would need for the imbizo. But Mbuyane said he knew of no such document, and had only been told to expect the money.
Ngwenya said the R10 000 was a fixed amount for every chief irrespective of how big or small the community. When asked if there would be refunds in cases where not all the money was used, Ngwenya was non-committal. “We started two weeks ago so we cannot talk about refunds at this stage.”
Ngwenya said the inventory of how much was spent would be sent to his offices after the event. However, that information was not communicated to Mbuyane.
“Inkhosi announced on the radio that we must come there is plenty of meat. That is what we did, we came to eat the government’s meat on November 12 and not to promise political parties that we want to do away with our chief,” said one of the inkhosis’ subjects.
A representative of the House of Traditional Leaders, Inkhosi Mzimela, said he was not consulted about the new strategy to woo voters in Mpumalanga.
“I would not be surprised if chiefs are paid R10 000 in Mpumalanga because those are strategies to divide us. There is nothing independent about the IEC. When you listen to their advertisements, they do not talk about how to vote but they go on to say how our subjects would benefit from voting. Those are two different things.
“The IEC’s task has changed to that of working hard to help the government achieve its goal of setting up municipalities in our communities.”