South Africa: Independent Electoral Commission

Updated February 1011

The Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) is established by the Constitution and its independence as an autonomous body is underwritten by the Electoral Commission Act (Constitution of the Republic of SA, Article 190-191; Electoral Commission Act 51 1996, 3(1), (2)).

Composition

The IEC is composed of five members, one of whom must be a judge. A member of the IEC must be a South African citizen and must not have a high party-political profile (Electoral Commission Act 51 1996, 6). Members of the IEC are appointed by the President on the recommendation of the National Assembly, following nominations by a National Assembly inter-party committee. The inter-party committee exams a list of at least eight nominations submitted by a panel consisting of the President of the Constitutional Court (Chair) and representatives of the Human Rights Commission, the Commission on Gender Equality and the Public Prosecutor (Electoral Commission Act 51 1996, 6(2)).

Members of the IEC may be removed for misconduct, incapacity or incompetence by the President on a resolution of the National Assembly. The removal must be initiated by the Electoral Court and the member must first be found wanting by a committee of the National Assembly before the Assembly itself entertains the resolution of removal (Electoral Commission Act 51 1996).

Term of Office

A Commissioner is appointed for a period of seven years unless the President, on the recommendation of the National Assembly, extends the term for a particular period (Electoral Commission Act 51 1996, 7(1)).

Functions

The following functions are allocated to the IEC by the Constitution (Constitution of the Republic of SA, 190(1)):

To manage elections at all levels of government.
To ensure elections are free and fair.
To declare the results in as short a time as possible.

The Electoral Commission Act adds considerable detail to these broad functions (Electoral Commission Act 51 1996, 5(1)):

To promote conditions for free and fair elections.
To promote knowledge of electoral processes.
To register voters and compile voters rolls.
To register political parties.
To liaise with political parties.
To develop electoral technology.
To review electoral legislation.
To engage in electoral research.
To promote voter education.
To declare election results within seven days.
To adjudicate disputes.

The IEC is also tasked with the allocation of seats to the constituencies used for the election of members of the National Assembly and legislatures as well as the administrative voting areas used in these elections (Electoral Act 1998, 60-67, Schedule 1, 2, 12; see Delimitation of constituencies and voting areas for details). Furthermore, the IEC is also responsible for the disembersment of public funding to political parties in terms of the Public Funding of Represented Political Parties Act of 1997 (see Political party funding for details).

Commissioners

The following are members of the IEC (IEC 2011):

Dr Brigalia Bam (Chairperson)
Ms Thoko Mpumlwana (Deputy Chairperson)
Mr Fanie van der Merwe
Judge Herbert Msimang
Mr Terry Tselane

Chief electoral officer

The chief electoral officer is appointed by the IEC and functions as the head of administration and is the IEC's accounting officer (Electoral Commission Act 51 1996, 12). The current chief electoral officer is Pansy Tlakula (IEC 2011).

Electoral Court

The Electoral Court is established by the Electoral Commission Act to review decisions of IEC and to act as final court of appeal in the adjudication of disputes by the courts; it has the same status as that of the Supreme Court. The members are appointed by the President on the recommendation of the Judicial Services Commission (Electoral Commission Act 51 1996, 18-20).

Funding, finances and accounting

The IEC receives its financial support from parliamentary appropriations (Electoral Commission Act 51 1996, 13). The Chief Electoral Officer is the accounting officer of the IEC and is responsible for all accounting and financial record keeping and these accounts and records are audited by the Auditor-General (Electoral Commission Act 51 1996, 12(2)(b), 13). The IEC must submit audited financial reports to Parliament at the end of aech financial year of all incomes and expenditures (Electoral Commission Act 51 1996, 14(1)).

As far as the Represented Political Parties Fund is concerned, the Chief Electoral Officer, under the direction of the IEC, is responsible for the management and administration of the fund; the IEC must ensure that proper records are kept for each financial year of incomes, expenditures as well as assets and liabilities (Public Funding of Represented Political Parties Act 1997, 4). The IEC must submit a report to Parliament at the end of each financial year that includes financial statements on income and expenditure, disembursements to political parties, the amounts spent by political parties (and how they spent them) and the balance of the Fund (Public Funding of Represented Political Parties Act 1997, 8 (1)). The financial statements and the report must be submitted to the Auditor-General and, within 30 days of receipt of it, the Auditor-General's report and related documentation must be submitted to Parliament (Public Funding of Represented Political Parties Act 1997, 8(2), (3)).

Reports

Other than the financial reports refered to above, the President may require in writing of the IEC reports of the activities of the IEC, the IEC must publish a report as soon as possible after each election and may also on its own initiative "publish a report on the likelihood or otherwise that it will be able to ensure that any pending election will be free and fair" (Electoral Commission Act 51 1996, 14(2)-(4). Instances of these reports may be found at:

IEC "Annual reports", [www] http://www.elections.org.za/content/Dynamic.aspx?id=1316&name=Elections&LeftMenuId=100&BreadCrumbId=220 [opens new window] (accessed 7 Feb 2011).
IEC "Election reports", [www] http://www.elections.org.za/content/DynamicDocs.aspx?id=278&BreadCrumbId=278&LeftMenuId=251&name=home&ekmensel=14ae2c49_79_136_btnlink [opens new window] (accessed 7 Feb 2011).

Web site

IEC: [www] http://www.elections.org.za [opens new window] (accessed 26 Feb 2010).

References

CONSTITUTION OF THE REPUBLIC OF SA 1996, [www] http://www.info.gov.za/documents/constitution/1996/index.htm [opens new window] (7 Feb 2011).

PUBLIC FUNDING OF REPRESENTED POLITICAL PARTIES ACT, 103 OF 1997, [www] http://www.elections.org.za/content/WorkArea/DownloadAsset.aspx?id=985 [PDF document, opens new window] (accessed 7 Feb 2011).

ELECTORAL ACT 73 1998, includes amendments of 2000 and 2003, [www] http://www.elections.org.za/content/WorkArea/DownloadAsset.aspx?id=989 [PDF document, opens new window] (accessed 9 Mar 2010).

ELECTORAL COMMISSION ACT 51 1996, [www] http://www.elections.org.za/content/WorkArea/DownloadAsset.aspx?id=987 [opens new window] (accessed 7 Feb 2011).

IEC 2011 "Organogram", [www] http://www.elections.org.za/content/Dynamic.aspx?id=391&LeftMenuId=79&name=About%20Us&BreadCrumbId=212 [opens new window] (accessed 7 Feb 2011).