THE commission has hit back at EFF leader Julius Malema following his demand that teachers be banned from employment by the Independent Elections Commission (IEC) during the 2024 elections.
The IEC said the South African Democratic Teachers Union (Sadtu) members are there to stay. The commission briefed the portfolio committee on Home Affairs on Tuesday, 21 November.
IEC chairman Mosotho Moepya said the IEC has been employing teachers during elections for many years.
“The issue that had arisen concerning Sadtu is unfortunate because for a number of years we have taken measures and in consultation with the party liaison committee at national level. We have a rigorous a set of criteria that we use for persons that we employ,” he said.
He said parties were allowed to raise objections if they were not happy with some individuals. Moepya said over the registration weekend, IEC received 12 objections and those objections were dealt with swiftly.
“The amount of discussion that is spent on this, in truth, it's not proportional to the challenge we have,” he said.
Malema accused the IEC of favouring Sadtu members when it comes to the hiring of election officials.
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Moepya claimed that as the commission, they didn't know who belongs to which establishment.
He said the IEC was clear that anyone who holds position in any party or political office or is serving in the executive of an institution that has party or political aims that person cannot be employed.
He said of 69 718 people employed last weekend only 6 307 were teachers.
“At a practical level, those objections I indicated have been dealt with but for some reason in the media and at political level, we still have that challenge. I do not wish to address that challenge here because we do engage with political parties on this matter at the appropriate forums,” he said.
“It is a situation of two elephants fighting and the grass suffering. In this instance, we are the grass, and we ask for restraint.”
IEC CEO Sy Mamabolo asked what would happen if another call was made against another class of people who are part of their staff.
“Let’s say a call comes ‘we don't trust Urban Youth because of 123. What then happens, it leaves the commission in a very untenable position where certain class of people are debarred from engagement in the electoral process,” he said.
He said voting stations requires some level of supervisory and management experience the person is managing staff and relationship with party agents.
Mamabolo pointed out that 50 000 unemployed youth worked this past weekend during voter registration.
“We need to find a balance between the imperative of giving employment exposure to the unemployed youth and people who are experienced and have run processes before. Otherwise, we run a risk of meeting the popular demand but giving a very weak performance in terms of the management of voting stations,” said Mamabolo.
The commission will have a registration weekend for South Africans living abroad and the dates will be announced in 2024.
