Ramaphosa appoints Janet Love as IEC commissioner

President Cyril Ramaphosa has appointed Janet Love as a commissioner of the Electoral Commission of SA (IEC), the presidency announced on Friday.

Ramaphosa appointed Love in terms of the Electoral Commission Act and she becomes one of five commissioners appointed for a term of seven years.

Her appointment comes a month after the home affairs portfolio recommended the National Assembly approve her nomination to the post and after the latter did so. 

Recounting her career progression, the presidency said: “Having played a role in fighting for freedom as an anti-apartheid activist in the 1970s, Love returned to SA in 1990 and became involved in negotiating the country’s new constitution and establishing the first democratic government.

“She served as an MP for the ANC in the first democratic parliament from 1994 to 1999, and was a member of the 22-person constitutional committee of the Constitutional Assembly, the body responsible for steering the constitution-making process.”

Love has also served in government and civil society institutions. She worked as a part-time commissioner for the IEC in 2016 and served as its vice-chair in November 2018.

“Love has a strong commitment to human rights and in her capacity as national director of the Legal Resources Centre since 2006 she has taken up public interest and constitutional cases on behalf of marginalised communities and individuals.

“President Ramaphosa wishes Love well in her new capacity in the service of the nation and in an institution critical to the integrity and vibrancy of our democracy,” the presidency said.

TimesLIVE