IEC doesn't exclusively hire SADTU members as presiding officers, says Sheburi

The commission's deputy CEO, Masego Sheburi, briefed Parliament's  Portfolio Committee on Home Affairs on the readiness for the upcoming voter registration weekend.

The IEC will be hosting its first voter registration campaign on the 18 and 19 November ahead of the 2024 general elections.

Political parties will also be hosting campaigns to encourage young people to register to vote for them.

On Monday, the EFF took to social media, calling on all its members to report members of the  South African Democratic Teachers' Union (SADTU) who work for the IEC.

"SADTU is ANC, and we must defend our electoral system from thugs," said the EFF in a tweet.

But Sheburi told MPs the commission recruits staff against specific criteria that are developed jointly with the national party liaison committee.

"All parties represented in Parliament have representation on that committee, and they have an input on the criteria.

“Nothing in the criteria or in the policy says the commission will recruit teachers to the exclusion of everyone else. Nothing in the criteria says the commission will recruit teachers affiliated with a certain union.

“In fact, once we have recruited those staff members, we share the names with the local party liaison committee so that parties can share the names with their structures, and they can raise objections against the suitability or otherwise of those people that we intend to use at the voting station.

“The commission is of the view that it will be unlawful and unconstitutional to exclude a class of persons from opportunities purely because they are teachers or belong to a union," said Sheburi.

According to the commission, an objection against the suitability of a person must be against a specific person in terms of the criteria.

Sheburi said in instances where the commission has considered an objection, those who violated the criteria were blacklisted.

"Once the recruitment and training have been finalised, we also test the ID numbers of those staff members against the candidate nomination system to ensure that those people were never candidates for parties or candidates in the previous elections.

“We also test for criminal offences to ensure that we do not end up with undesirable people at the level of a voting station," he said.

The commission will be targeting the 14 million individuals who are not yet registered to vote.

Its voters’ roll currently stands at 26.2 million, and young people in the age category 20-29 account for 3.7 million.

South Africa’s 2024 elections must be held between May and August 2024. 

President Cyril Ramaphosa is expected to announce the exact date early in 2024.

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