Home affairs will not interfere with electoral reform panel, says Schreiber

The home affairs department says it will not meddle in the work of the electoral reform consultation panel as the nine-member body investigates alternative electoral systems and proposes reforms before the 2029 national and provincial elections.

The panel, which was appointed in May, has 12 months from the May 29 general elections to submit a report to the minister of home affairs, Leon Schreiber, on the alternative proposals. Its establishment was provided for in the Electoral Amendment Act, which made legal provision for the inclusion of independent candidates in the last election. 

Speaking during a presentation of the panel before the home affairs portfolio committee in parliament, Schreiber said he would not interfere with the work of the independent panel. 

“Given the fundamental importance of this work ... we will make sure that the secretarial services are rendered for the panel, but we are not involved in the actual substance of their work,” he said. “There will be no taint of political involvement or interference.”

The panel consists of advocate Pansy Tlakula, a previous chair of the Electoral Commission of SA (IEC) in 2009-14; lawyer and senior lecturer Mmatsie Mooki; capacity development adviser and previous IEC employee Tomsie Dlamini; academic, lawyer and previous public servant Richard Sizani; former chair of the Municipal Demarcation Board and former eThekwini city manager Michael Sutcliffe; IEC chief electoral officer Sy Mamabolo; former IEC senior manager Michael Hendrickse; deputy CEO of the IEC Norman du Plessis; and academic and researcher Albertus Schoeman.

Chair Sizani said over the next few months the panel would conduct a public participation process and conduct internal research on the possibilities of changing SA’s electoral system beyond the inclusion of independent candidates. 

The panel’s work will be conducted in six phases including preparing a final report to the minister which will also look at the financial and legal implications of different proposals.

“In the next three months, the panel intends to carry out the panel’s research work programme, solicit public submissions and prepare a discussion document to guide public participation processes scheduled for the subsequent phase of the panel’s work programme,” Sizani said.

Deputy minister of home affairs Njabulo Nzuza said the department would support the panel by providing technical assistance. 

“The resource capacity and requests for staffing or any other issues will come as recommendations from the panel. There will not be people who will be appointed directly by the department so they [the panel] will run the process and then we will offer the support from there,” Nzuza said. 

maekot@businesslive.co.za