IEC offers mea culpa over roll

THE Independent Electoral Commission has made a U-turn by admitting that it was wrong in the stand-off over voters’ addresses on the roll.

In court papers filed on Friday, chief electoral officer Mosotho Moepya admits for the first time that the IEC was wrong not to capture the full addresses of voters on the roll.

Moepya apologises for the mistake, which opened the door for voters to vote in areas where they were not living, making the result undemocratic.

The Constitutional Court is due to make a decision on the implications of the address problem for this year’s local government elections.

Moepya’s backtracking statement is the IEC’s latest submission to the court in a case brought by seven independent candidates from Tlokwe. Moepya states that the IEC, which until now has denied any wrongdoing, was in the wrong.

“The IEC has reflected on the issues expressed by the court and the parties. The IEC accepts that it may have misunderstood the purpose of the relevant section in the Electoral Act, and misconstrued the nature of the duty it imposed,” he says.

“The IEC accepts that it may have erred in this regard and that, as a result, it may have failed to comply with the requirements of the act. The IEC sincerely

We ask the IEC to allow registered voters to provide their addresses on election day

apologises for any such failure and is fully committed to meeting its legal obligation and to improving its processes.”

Hans-Jurie Moolman, the lawyer representing the independent candidates, said the IEC had at last admitted its mistake.

“We understand that the August elections must go ahead, and we ask the IEC to allow registered voters to provide their addresses on election day”.