IEC refers UDC query to its Commission
Tsaone Basimanebotlhe | Monday January 24, 2022 06:00
Mmegi has learnt that the IEC commission is scheduled to meet this week and the issue is on the agenda. According to a source, the IEC had written to the Commission that it had acted accordingly as per the IEC Act requires the start of the supplementary registration and that the UDC had misled itself in trying to interpret the Act.
The source said the UDC had used an old Act to write its letter challenging the IEC decision to continue with the supplementary registration. In an interview with the IEC manager, elections affairs and field operations Dintle Rapoo, he said: “It is true the matter has been referred by the secretariat to the Commission. I cannot comment on the matter since it's likely to go to court. We will act after the commission has given us their recommendations.” The UDC had told off the secretary of the IEC on the recent announcement that the electoral body will undertake supplementary registration from January 17 to March 31, 2022.
The IEC had on January 10 issued a notice that it would undertake a supplementary voter registration.
It stated that the process is meant to afford opportunities to persons who had not registered for the 2019 general election, those who had registered but do not have a valid entry in the roll and those who turned 18 years after the cut-off date for the 2019 general election.
The notice also stated that it would allow the transfer of registration in accordance with Section 25 of the Electoral Act, which would also be available from the onset of the supplementary registration. The IEC directed all the activities to take place at the offices of the principal registration officers. However, the UDC and IEC secretary may be headed for a legal showdown after the former, through its lawyers Ramaotwana Attorneys, demanded that the electoral body should withdraw the notice as it is unlawful and totally unnecessary in view of the clear provisions of the Act.
In a letter of demand written to the IEC recently, the UDC attorney Nelson Ramaotwana said they hold instructions to take legal action to review the electoral body’s decision and have it set aside by the courts.
In a series of accusations, the UDC also said the IEC intentions are contrary to the Electoral Act’s intentions of guarding against ill-will. It is said the IEC secretary ceded all her functions in relation to the running of the 2019 general election to the Directorate of Intelligence and Security (DIS), whose agents also impersonated registration officers. Moreover, Ramaotwana said by imposing an arbitrary time period on a process, which the controlling legislation, being the Act, does not impose, any time to, is improper, unlawful and grossly irregular.