Candidates grilled on credibility of IEC
A proposal by a candidate interviewed for one of the three positions of commissioner at the Electoral Commission of SA (IEC) angered Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng on Tuesday. Nkosikhulule Nyembezi was commenting on the fact that the president appoints the chairman of the commission.
A proposal by a candidate interviewed for one of the three positions of commissioner at the Electoral Commission of SA (IEC) angered Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng on Tuesday.
Nkosikhulule Nyembezi was commenting on the fact that the president appoints the chairman of the commission. He said it was “worrisome” that the president made the appointment and suggested that legislation needed to be changed.
Nyembezi used the noise around the appointment of Vuma Mashinini as an example.
Mashinini, who was appointed in 2015, was special projects adviser to former president Jacob Zuma.
Mogoeng, however, disagreed, saying that there were “many agendas out there” and that if you did not fit into someone’s agenda you would be discredited.
The credibility of the IEC, its staff and its systems were some of the key issues raised during the second day of interviews. This comes ahead of the crucial 2019 election.
A panel led by Mogoeng was interviewing 26 candidates to fill the vacancies of three commissioners, who will be appointed by December 1. The vacancies arose as a result of the end of the second term of office of vicechairman Terry Tselane and the end of the first terms of office of Judge Thami Makhanya and Rev Bongani Finca.
Mogoeng said Mashinini had been through the same rigorous interview process as other candidates before he was recom- mended and appointed, and the chief justice himself had grilled him regarding his relationship with Zuma.
He said it was dangerous to popularise issues at the risk of discrediting the IEC.
Nyembezi said public perception could not be ignored and there needed to be a discussion about how best to insulate the IEC from this. He clarified that he did not think there was anything wrong with the process and that maybe after more than 20 years of democracy, the country needed to look at a way of doing things differently.
Mogoeng said it was time South Africans refused to be “duped by those with agendas”.
The majority of candidates interviewed for the role of commissioner said they believed IEC staff needed to be vetted properly to ensure the credibility of the institution.
Mogoeng and his fellow panellists — Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane, deputy chairwoman of the Commission on Gender Equality Tamara Mathebula, and Human Rights Commission commissioner Angie Makwetla — will deliberate on the interviews on Wednesday. They will then make recommendations on appointments to the National Assembly.
During the interviews on Tuesday, another candidate‚ Mfanozelwe Shozi‚ had to explain an article he wrote that was published in the New Age newspaper in May 2016, entitled “Parole for Janusz Walus cannot be justified”.
In that article‚ Shozi‚ who was chairman of the Commission for Gender Equality at the time‚ said he was perplexed by the insistence of the judiciary on giving Chris Hani’s killer parole.
“I wonder if it was FW de Klerk who was assassinated instead by a black person‚ whether the attitude of the judge would be the same as in the case of Walus‚” Shozi wrote.
Mogoeng asked Shozi whether this was the kind of a statement befitting a chairperson of a chapter nine institution.
“It came out as an attack on a judiciary. From where I am sitting I respect the judiciary‚” Shozi said.
Mogoeng said impartiality‚ lack of bias and lack of prejudice were critical for anybody hoping to serve as a commissioner of the IEC.
THE MAJORITY OF CANDIDATES INTERVIEWED SAID IEC STAFF NEEDED TO BE VETTED PROPERLY