Almost three years after the resignation of their councilors, six wards at Tlokwe are still without ward councilors. Residents there have inadequate official attention to their immediate problems.
By-elections to elect new ward councilors have been the subject of a contentious legal battle, marked by repeated postponements. In what is essentially a political matter, lawyers have replaced voters making frequent visits to the courts. In the process, courts are increasingly becoming the new forums were political contests are settled.
Today we still don’t know when some of the residents at Tlokwe will elect their ward councilors. That decision rests with the courts.
The Electoral Court has been hearing an appeal against its decision in February to postpone by-elections on account of what it considered a flawed voters’ roll.
Before the Constitutional Court is a request by the IEC to provide further clarity on the extent to which it should “clean-up” up the voters’ roll.
Concerns have consequently been expressed that the courts’ decision might even derail the local elections scheduled for August 3.
Are the concerns justified, and what exactly does the Tlokwe debacle say about the state of our politics?
Tlokwe is less of a problem than it’s made out to be. All parties agree that the voters’ roll is a problem, but disagree on the scope of the corrective measure.
Last year the ConCourt ruled that details of registered voters should include their residential addresses. In the instance of voters with unconventional addresses – due to residence in informal settlements – details providing their approximate location are sufficient.
The IEC was instructed to implement this new measure in all future elections, to which it happily agreed.
But, the commission may have misunderstood the prospective application of the ConCourt ruling. This is what the Electoral Court found in February, just days before by-elections, prompting the postponement of the by-elections.
The ruling followed a complaint by independent candidates that the commission had not complied with the ConCourt verdict. Whilst they received the voters’ roll on time, which was an improvement from previous practice, the independents argued that it was still flawed. More than 3000 registered voters still did not have addresses listed on the voters’ roll and roughly 500 were improperly registered.
The commission is not disputing the anomaly. Rather, it contends that those registrations were made in the past and therefore, it was not obliged to rectify them. The Electoral Court disagreed. It asserted that the prospective application of the ConCourt ruling included the Tlokwe voters’ roll as it was in November 2015 – at the time of the ruling.
The Electoral Court reasoned that the ConCourt couldn’t have dismissed the voters roll as flawed and still have approved its use for the February 2016 by-elections. This is what has seen the IEC return to the ConCourt seeking clarity on the precise scope of the prospective application of its ruling.
What worries the IEC is the intensity of cleaning up the voters roll. It prefers to fill in missing details or rectify errors as and when voters update their registrations.
This is quite different to going through the entire voters’ roll page by page, which the commission fears would be a long and cumbersome task.
The other claim – that the commission may be obliged to conduct a similar exercise for other areas – is unfounded. This ruling applies strictly to the six wards in the by-elections at Tlokwe.
The ConCourt is possibly sympathetic to the IEC. Organising an election is already a demanding process without the laborious responsibility of cleaning up the voters roll.
That said, one can’t imagine the ConCourt approving the use of a voters roll which it declared flawed.
The Electoral Court makes sense on this point. Moreover, there’s no reason why the IEC cannot input the missing Tlokwe information relatively quickly, when the independents are able to scrutinise the voters’ roll within days.
It could be a good idea for the IEC to ready itself for a decision to clean up the voters’ roll for the six wards at Tlokwe.
What the ConCourt is unlikely to say though is that the IEC must clean up the country’s voter’s roll. That’s millions of registered voters. This would reduce the commission to a voters’ roll operation. Most importantly, it wouldn’t be a smart decision. And, the ConCourt is not known for issuing stupid decisions.
Whilst unusual, it’s worth noting that this marathon legal wrangling is perfectly understandable. It reflects the competitiveness of politics at Tlokwe. This has also happened elsewhere, for instance, in some wards in KwaZulu-Natal where the ANC once faced stiff competition from the Inkatha Freedom Party. Parties bused in people to vote in wards where they were not registered, leading to the IEC postponing by-elections.
Controversy over the voters’ roll, therefore, is likely to become a familiar feature of our political scene as it becomes increasingly competitive. Politicians are desperate, which prompts them to employ trickery to tilt the scale in their favour.
Albeit an inevitable manifestation of competitive politics, the Tlokwe dispute also shows increasing distrust among politicians, and suspicions that the IEC is vulnerable to manipulation.
The distrust among politicians is not without cause. ANC-controlled municipalities have displayed an unashamed propensity to use state resources to influence voters. It’s not uncommon for ANC councilors to provide services, which had been lacking in communities for years, on the eve of by-elections. Tlokwe has been no exception. On the eve of the aborted February by-elections, they launched what they dubbed a “service delivery blitz” in the contested wards.
Nor has the IEC remained unaffected by shenanigans at Tlokwe. One official manipulated the process to nullify the registration of independents in 2013. It took legal action by the independents to rectify the mischief. That official has since been fired by the IEC and possibly faces punitive legal action. These acts of impropriety demonstrate a willingness to engage whatever measure possible to manipulate voters. As a result, opposition parties are constantly on the alert.
Because of the rarity of such misconduct, the IEC has not suffered reputational damage. There’s no guarantee though that the commission’s image will remain impeccable indefinitely. It must be pro-active in its handling of possible impropriety and not be seen to be reacting to complaints.
That’s how it is perceived in the instance of Tlokwe. It went for a minimalist interpretation of the ConCourt judgment on Tlokwe to avoid reviewing the entire voters’ roll. This was possibly an honest mistake, likely stemming from unease about undertaking a cumbersome administrative process.
That said, Tlokwe has been a boon to our electoral democracy. Public institutions such as the IEC reflect the state of society. Voters’ rolls have not been a major subject of controversy previously due largely to uncompetitiveness in our elections. As a result, its compilation was not given sufficient diligence. Now that the tenor of politics is changing, so will the process of compiling the voters’ roll. Tlokwe signals maturity, not despair.
Mcebisi Ndletyana is an associate professor of political science at the University of Johannesburg and an author of Institutionalising Democracy: The History of the Electoral Commission of South Africa, 1913 to 2014 (HSRC Press, 2015)
Tlokwe, maturity not despair
By-elections to elect new ward councilors have been the subject of a contentious legal battle, marked by repeated postponements. In what is essentially a political matter, lawyers have replaced voters making frequent visits to the courts. In the process, courts are increasingly becoming the new forums were political contests are settled.
Today we still don’t know when some of the residents at Tlokwe will elect their ward councilors. That decision rests with the courts.
The Electoral Court has been hearing an appeal against its decision in February to postpone by-elections on account of what it considered a flawed voters’ roll.
Before the Constitutional Court is a request by the IEC to provide further clarity on the extent to which it should “clean-up” up the voters’ roll.
Concerns have consequently been expressed that the courts’ decision might even derail the local elections scheduled for August 3.
Are the concerns justified, and what exactly does the Tlokwe debacle say about the state of our politics?
Tlokwe is less of a problem than it’s made out to be. All parties agree that the voters’ roll is a problem, but disagree on the scope of the corrective measure.
Last year the ConCourt ruled that details of registered voters should include their residential addresses. In the instance of voters with unconventional addresses – due to residence in informal settlements – details providing their approximate location are sufficient.
The IEC was instructed to implement this new measure in all future elections, to which it happily agreed.
But, the commission may have misunderstood the prospective application of the ConCourt ruling. This is what the Electoral Court found in February, just days before by-elections, prompting the postponement of the by-elections.
The ruling followed a complaint by independent candidates that the commission had not complied with the ConCourt verdict. Whilst they received the voters’ roll on time, which was an improvement from previous practice, the independents argued that it was still flawed. More than 3000 registered voters still did not have addresses listed on the voters’ roll and roughly 500 were improperly registered.
The commission is not disputing the anomaly. Rather, it contends that those registrations were made in the past and therefore, it was not obliged to rectify them. The Electoral Court disagreed. It asserted that the prospective application of the ConCourt ruling included the Tlokwe voters’ roll as it was in November 2015 – at the time of the ruling.
The Electoral Court reasoned that the ConCourt couldn’t have dismissed the voters roll as flawed and still have approved its use for the February 2016 by-elections. This is what has seen the IEC return to the ConCourt seeking clarity on the precise scope of the prospective application of its ruling.
What worries the IEC is the intensity of cleaning up the voters roll. It prefers to fill in missing details or rectify errors as and when voters update their registrations.
This is quite different to going through the entire voters’ roll page by page, which the commission fears would be a long and cumbersome task.
The other claim – that the commission may be obliged to conduct a similar exercise for other areas – is unfounded. This ruling applies strictly to the six wards in the by-elections at Tlokwe.
The ConCourt is possibly sympathetic to the IEC. Organising an election is already a demanding process without the laborious responsibility of cleaning up the voters roll.
That said, one can’t imagine the ConCourt approving the use of a voters roll which it declared flawed.
The Electoral Court makes sense on this point. Moreover, there’s no reason why the IEC cannot input the missing Tlokwe information relatively quickly, when the independents are able to scrutinise the voters’ roll within days.
It could be a good idea for the IEC to ready itself for a decision to clean up the voters’ roll for the six wards at Tlokwe.
What the ConCourt is unlikely to say though is that the IEC must clean up the country’s voter’s roll. That’s millions of registered voters. This would reduce the commission to a voters’ roll operation. Most importantly, it wouldn’t be a smart decision. And, the ConCourt is not known for issuing stupid decisions.
Whilst unusual, it’s worth noting that this marathon legal wrangling is perfectly understandable. It reflects the competitiveness of politics at Tlokwe. This has also happened elsewhere, for instance, in some wards in KwaZulu-Natal where the ANC once faced stiff competition from the Inkatha Freedom Party. Parties bused in people to vote in wards where they were not registered, leading to the IEC postponing by-elections.
Controversy over the voters’ roll, therefore, is likely to become a familiar feature of our political scene as it becomes increasingly competitive. Politicians are desperate, which prompts them to employ trickery to tilt the scale in their favour.
Albeit an inevitable manifestation of competitive politics, the Tlokwe dispute also shows increasing distrust among politicians, and suspicions that the IEC is vulnerable to manipulation.
The distrust among politicians is not without cause. ANC-controlled municipalities have displayed an unashamed propensity to use state resources to influence voters. It’s not uncommon for ANC councilors to provide services, which had been lacking in communities for years, on the eve of by-elections. Tlokwe has been no exception. On the eve of the aborted February by-elections, they launched what they dubbed a “service delivery blitz” in the contested wards.
Nor has the IEC remained unaffected by shenanigans at Tlokwe. One official manipulated the process to nullify the registration of independents in 2013. It took legal action by the independents to rectify the mischief. That official has since been fired by the IEC and possibly faces punitive legal action. These acts of impropriety demonstrate a willingness to engage whatever measure possible to manipulate voters. As a result, opposition parties are constantly on the alert.
Because of the rarity of such misconduct, the IEC has not suffered reputational damage. There’s no guarantee though that the commission’s image will remain impeccable indefinitely. It must be pro-active in its handling of possible impropriety and not be seen to be reacting to complaints.
That’s how it is perceived in the instance of Tlokwe. It went for a minimalist interpretation of the ConCourt judgment on Tlokwe to avoid reviewing the entire voters’ roll. This was possibly an honest mistake, likely stemming from unease about undertaking a cumbersome administrative process.
That said, Tlokwe has been a boon to our electoral democracy. Public institutions such as the IEC reflect the state of society. Voters’ rolls have not been a major subject of controversy previously due largely to uncompetitiveness in our elections. As a result, its compilation was not given sufficient diligence. Now that the tenor of politics is changing, so will the process of compiling the voters’ roll. Tlokwe signals maturity, not despair.
Mcebisi Ndletyana is an associate professor of political science at the University of Johannesburg and an author of Institutionalising Democracy: The History of the Electoral Commission of South Africa, 1913 to 2014 (HSRC Press, 2015)
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