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/ 2 March 2006

IEC says most votes counted by sunset

The Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) hopes to have posted 90% of the local government election results by sunset, its chairperson Brigalia Bam said on Thursday. A 47% voter turnout had been recorded by 10.45am, Bam said in a briefing at the IEC’s national operations centre in Pretoria.

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/ 28 February 2006

IEC plans to count votes by candlelight

The Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) in the Western Cape is planning to conduct Wednesday’s municipal election as if there will be no power available in the province. ”We are planning for no electricity. That is the safest,” provincial electoral officer Courtney Sampson told a media briefing in Bellville on Tuesday afternoon.

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/ 3 February 2006

Austria will not buy back ‘its’ Klimt masterpieces

Austria said on Thursday it would not buy back five masterpieces by Austrian painter Gustav Klimt, but instead return them to a descendant of the paintings’ former Jewish owner whose possessions were seized by the Nazis. Austrian Culture Minister Elisabeth Gehrer said the government did not see how it could spend -million (€248 million) to buy back the paintings.

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/ 1 February 2006

IEC disqualifies 932 candidates

The Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) disqualified 932 people from standing as candidates in 129 positions in the March 1 municipal elections, it said on Wednesday. IEC chairperson Brigalia Bam said one of the biggest reasons for the disqualification was that they had not registered as voters for the municipal elections.

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/ 2 December 2005

What a piece of work is a man

A few months shy of her 11th birthday, Vuyelwa bore in miniature all the noble traits of her race and gender. Stately and voluminous as a chubby-cheeked Zeppelin coated with Vaseline, she sailed through clear skies of her own making, deaf to the howls and grunts of the boy-children who crouched on all fours at her feet, snapping at each other as they fought over scraps of bone.

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/ 25 November 2005

The IEC and the Indian ink tender

A senior government official has conceded that a major Independent Electoral Commission tender for indelible ink, used in last year’s national elections, might have been marred by conflict of interest. In addition, a Mail & Guardian investigation suggests the tender requirements were breached.