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As the ANC declines, so too might its support for the IEC

As the ANC declines, so too might its support for the IEC
Stephen Grootes
By Stephen Grootes
10 Sep 2024
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As our politics becomes more contested, the Electoral Commission of South Africa will find itself at the centre of more attacks. There are actions it can take to protect itself, but one of the more crucial questions will be whether a commissioner facing criminal charges can be made to resign.

Despite the fact there are still several pending court cases involving the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) stemming from this year’s elections, in the public mind the commission’s work is done — at least for the moment. However, the IEC does face some dangers.

First, one of the major protections it enjoyed is slowly slipping away. 

It was one of those strange oddities in our politics that during the last elections, the party which had the most to lose, the ANC, supported the IEC the most.

This was because it had won previous elections and enjoyed the legitimacy conferred upon it by the IEC.

It may also be because the elites of our society tend to know each other and have played different roles over the years. (The current IEC commissioner and former IEC chair, Glenton Mashinini, once worked as an adviser to former President Jacob Zuma).

Also, the story of this election was the uMkhonto Wesizwe (MK) party, which kept attacking both the ANC and the IEC. While the ANC and the IEC were on opposite sides in at least one court case ahead of the poll, in general, this forced their interests to align.

Thus, the ANC and its leaders supported the IEC in public. 

This was crucial. In many other democracies, when a governing party is at risk of losing power, it attacks the body overseeing the election. This did not happen in our case, during what was arguably our most crucial election since 1994.

This may now change.

ANC protection


The ANC is likely to continue to lose power. It will no longer have the ability to protect the IEC and it may no longer believe it is in its interests to do so.

Of course, if every political party consistently attacks the IEC, then it will probably feel secure as it will be able to say it is not favouring any party.

Its situation will become more difficult if some parties, or a group of parties, consistently attack it, while another group consistently defends it.

This will lead to claims that the IEC is biased.

The other major defence the IEC had during these last elections is that it won all court cases that were brought against it. 

Even when the Electoral Court inexplicably misunderstood the law around whether Zuma could stand as a candidate for Parliament, the IEC stood firm. In the end, it won.

This helped to solidify its legitimacy among voters.

If it is to lose a case in the future (in a scenario in which more court cases are very likely) this will change dramatically, particularly if it happens consistently.

At the same time though, the end of one-party dominance makes a concerted attack on the IEC by an organised mass grouping much less likely. For attacks against the IEC to succeed there needs to be a large party that is united in its determination to weaken it. (A large group of smaller parties can also do this, but with greater difficulty.) 

The risk of scandal


One of the major problems facing the IEC is beyond its control.

Just a month after the election, one of its commissioners, Nomsa Masuku, was arrested on corruption charges unrelated to the election or the IEC itself.

Read more: IEC Commissioner Dr Nomsa Masuku arrested for R1.2m fraud, granted bail

While she has appeared in court on these charges, she has not yet resigned.

This means that someone facing corruption charges is still a commissioner of the body that oversees our elections in a highly contested environment. 

The IEC was lucky. Imagine if the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) had pressed these charges the week before or the week after the elections. At the worst possible time, various parties would have claimed the IEC was corrupt. 

Such an unfortunate event has occurred in the past.

In 2013, the then chief electoral officer, Pansy Tlakula, was found by the Public Protector to be implicated in a scandal over a lease agreement.

She refused to leave office ahead of the 2014 elections.

The leader of the then newly formed EFF, Julius Malema claimed: “Pansy Tlakula must step down or there will be civil war.”

The EFF did not have the support to make good on that promise.

We live in a different age now. The IEC, and perhaps our electoral process, would not survive another such scandal.

Unfortunately for the IEC, it has no control over who is appointed as its commissioners. Instead, the chairs of several Chapter Nine institutions carry out public interviews, make recommendations to Parliament, and then allow Parliament to make the appointments.

Of course, it would be better for the IEC if there were a mechanism to force the resignation of a commissioner should they face criminal charges. Perhaps there could be a signed, undated letter of resignation. 

Unfortunately, events of the Zuma era show us that the NPA and other law-enforcement bodies can be used for political purposes. 

Even during this last election, the MK party called for the current IEC commissioner, Janet Love, to be removed from her position because of a comment it claimed she had made. The Constitutional Court found she had done nothing wrong.

It would have been a travesty had Love been forced to leave office ahead of the elections.

Read more: Be wary of political parties that undermine our democracy by attacking the IEC

This is the dilemma that the IEC is likely to face in the future: how to deal with a commissioner accused of wrongdoing, in the heat of an election.

Perhaps the best way to deal with it is to create a convention, where it becomes normal practice for an IEC commissioner to resign if accusations are made against them.

Masuku has the opportunity to start this process, to simply resign now and state publicly that she is doing so not as an admission of guilt, but in the best interests of the commission.

Money issue


One of the other vulnerabilities of the IEC is that it cannot control the amount of money it gets.

In the immediate aftermath of this year’s election, there was a brief furore over whether it had received enough money. The National Treasury insisted that it had.

Whatever the facts, this is a reminder of how politicians, often desperate for a way to delegitimise the IEC, can starve it of funding. All that voters will see is long queues and problems with IEC staff and machinery.

Read more: IEC’s R281m budget cut added to poll preparation problems

It is almost certain that some parties will attack the IEC simply to hide their own failures and to undermine the legitimacy of their defeat.

While the IEC cannot control how people see it, it can ensure that voters understand how the elections work.

In particular, if it ensures that voters understand that party agents can watch the processes around voter registration, voting, counting and tabulation, then people will understand how free and fair our elections are.

It is this backbone that safeguards our elections. The more people that know this the better. 

There can be no doubt that the political situation around the IEC is changing. Some threats have receded and new threats are emerging.

However, with agile leadership and good decision-making, it will be in a good position to maintain its relatively high standing in the eyes of most voters. DM

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