Civil society will engage with the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) on how they can play a role in ensuring free and fair elections in 2024. [Picture: via EEA Grants]
Civil society organisations will engage with the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) in a briefing session on Saturday. This is to have a seat at the table to ensure the credibility of the 2024 national and provincial elections.
Defend Our Democracy (DOD) extended an invitation to civil society organisations to attend a briefing session with the IEC. In an interview on Salaamedia, DOD’s Zaakirah Vadi said they hoped to get a sense of the commission’s readiness for the elections.
“2024 is an extremely pivotal moment because of the kind of elections that will be run. There are big decisions to be made about the country that will flow from it and therefore the way in which civil society and even ordinary citizens get involved would be quite important,” she said.
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Election monitoring
Vadi emphasised the importance of the contest. She said recent trends in established democracies like the United States (US) and Brazil, where defeated candidates challenged the outcome, made it all the more important for civil society to monitor elections in South Africa.
“Bearing in mind this contestation, we feel that there is a need to ensure that the elections are held successfully, that the Integrity of the elections remains intact. Therefore, we’re proposing that civil society organisations work towards monitoring the election.”
She said religious groups, who already have a vast footprint in the country, may be able to play this role effectively.
“Religious groupings across the country have a significant presence in communities and will be able to cover the monitoring of voting stations in their communities to observe the elections and … lend a credible voice to the observing of the elections on the day itself.”
Furthermore, said Vadi, civil society will have to train a “critical eye” on the manifestos launched by candidates and parties in the build up to the election, to ensure the promises made align with the needs of the electorate.
The civil society briefing session will take place at the Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) in Johannesburg on Saturday, 16 September from 09:00 until 13:00. Registration is essential.
