Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Home Affairs on Wednesday welcomed the Independent Electoral Commission’s (IEC’s) assurances that it has put in place contingency plans to mitigate the impact of loadshedding on the voting and counting process, during the May 29 elections.

The committee says it is confident in the IEC’s capacity and systems to deliver a credible, free and fair election.

Committee chairperson Mosa Chabane said that it is worth noting that procurement process for electoral materials have been finalised and that ballot paper printing capacity is in place.

The committee emphasised the importance of enhanced voter education, given that there will be three ballots this year, and called for voter education initiatives to ensure that voters mark the ballots correctly.

The IEC has planned extensive voter education initiatives that will focus on the three ballots, on special votes and voting where registered.

These initiatives will include face-to-face education, social media platforms, television, radio, and printed information factsheets.

Chabane said the committee appreciated the mitigation plans for risks such as longer queues.

The IEC informed the committee that it would have queue walkers to ensure that voters were at the right voting stations and ballot orientation posters to minimise the risk of miscast or spoilt ballots.

Similarly, the committee accepted assurances that the IEC is working well with the security cluster to maintain peace prior to and during the elections.

“Despite this, [the IEC] has cautioned political parties against acting outside the set code of conduct and it has emphasised the need to utilise dispute resolution mechanisms in cases of disputes,” said Chabane.

The committee was unanimous in denouncing political parties fuelling violence around democratic electoral processes. 

Over 52 organisations had been certified to observe the elections, Chabane noted, and the recruitment of about 200 000 voting staff was underway.

Chabane said the training of Presiding Officers, Deputy Presiding Officers and Voter’s Roll Officers will begin this month.

The committee has resolved to undertake an oversight visit to the IEC to witness first-hand the preparations for the elections.