IEC registration workers still not paid
Keto Segwai | Tuesday February 27, 2024 06:00
This week’s announcement by the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) of a supplementary voter registration has been received with indignation by the affected temporary workers. The IEC announced that the supplementary voter registration will commence from February 26 until March 15.
The initial 30-day voter registration exercise, which ran from January 5 to February 3, temporarily engaged 2,808 unemployed individuals throughout the country. An unemployed ex-voter registrar, who preferred anonymity for fear of even more delayed payment and possible exclusion from any future engagement by the IEC, complained bitterly of the Commission’s lack of empathy.
“Most of us have been unemployed for a long time – for many years after graduation, and we had welcomed this obvious alleviation from poverty. But now we are sinking deeper into debts while waiting to be paid,” she explained. Another young man further explained that the debts “had been accumulating from day one” as the would-be temporary workers initially lost money in groceries, toiletries, and transport in the aborted November 1 to 31, 2023 registration drill. That exercise was indefinitely postponed pending High Court ruling on the case lodged by the Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC) seeking participation in the voter registration exercise.
The upper court ultimately ruled in favour of the IEC. When the exercise was subsequently resurrected and set for January 5 to February 3, the unfortunate temporary workers had to once again “mobilise” their meagre resources for the assignment. Despite promises from the IEC some of the registration stations, at least in Ngamiland, had no basic provisions such as accommodation, work desks, tents, water, firewood and torches. At the time, the IEC public relations manager, Oarabile Maroba told Mmegi that “temporary employees were recruited within areas they already have accommodation hence there was no need for amenities except ablution facilities and water including tented areas”. Yet a site visit to some of these stations in Ngamiland revealed a sorry state of affairs. For instance, at a station in Maun West, registration officers were conducting their duties from a vehicle because there were no tents and desks to work from. There were also instances where officers had to work from a veranda of some school due to the absence of tents and the toilets in the school were out of order.
The IEC could only lamely offer the response that, “the commission is not aware because before the registration, officers were posted to remote areas, all the necessary logistics for their stay were finalised before they arrive.” Regarding late payments to temporary workers, Moroba further told Mmegi this week that the Commission “has been paying; but the process is slow due to Government Accounting and Budgeting Systems (GABS) problems. But very soon they will all be paid out. Ba ntse ba duelwa” But some of the temporary workers are inconsolable and are specifically enraged that the IEC has prioritised their benchmarking trip to Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) and the supplementary voter registration exercise over their welfare. The temporary workers maintain that the equally 2,808-strong government officers who had been seconded from various government departments to the voter registration exercise are not worried as they stand to make a windfall. In addition to their normal salaries and the IEC daily rate, they are also getting an out-of-station allowance of P300 per day.
This was considered unfair for the hordes of unemployed roaming the streets. There were disputes, however, over who should pay their allowance – the IEC or their departments. The departments argued that they had not entered into any formal agreement over payments with the IEC. The IEC was not helpful in the matter as at the time Maroba was asked to clarify the status of the “seconded” department officers.
Mmegi had wanted to establish whether such officers were on secondment or took the position while on leave. “Public officers were neither seconded nor have taken leave for registration engagement. Departments allowed them to volunteer for the national exercise.” Meanwhile, the supplementary voter registration that starts on Monday (February 26) will not have registration stations throughout the country but designated constituency offices, which will be either an IEC office or the District Commissioner’s or Council Secretary’s. Maroba explained that the supplementary registration will be carried out during the normal working hours of 07:30 to 16:30 hours, with an hour lunch break However, the arrangement that centralises the registration activities at constituency headquarters does not seem to be practical for large and sparsely-populated constituencies such as those in Ngamiland, For instance, a potential voter in the Maun West will have to travel all the way from near Kuke veterinary cordon fence, Tsau, Kareng or Sehitwa to register in Maun. Similarly, in what is derisively referred to as “fake Ngami” constituency, and Okavango West, voters will have to register in Gumare; while those from Okavango East or “Overseas” will have to travel all the way from Gudigwa and the many villages in the constituency to Shakawe for registration.