The Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) has for many years been accused of wrong doing from all fronts, and rightly so.
The electoral body has become the epitome of incompetency over the way it handles preparations for elections and overseeing polls; in short, discharging its duties. As a result, many have lost faith in anything IEC.
But the commission’s tough talk this week brings a glimmer of hope that it is about to do something right that we will all be proud of for years to come.
The IEC says it plans to sue political parties for their failure to account for funding received from the electoral body during the October 7, 2022 general elections.
Director of elections, Mpaiphele Maqutu, says its now time to hold parties that fail to comply with the law accountable. In this time of citizens’ frustrations over high unemployment and poverty, this is indeed good news.
We also applaud Advocate Maqutu for humbling himself and admitting that the challenge of parties failing to account comes way back.
He goes further to acknowledge that the IEC had never acted enough to show the seriousness of the matter and taking parties that fail to account for funds received to task.
Now, that is what we call leadership!
We hope the IEC will accelerate its intention to purse the legal route to recover the millions it dished out to parties for campaigning and to pay their agents to finality. Otherwise Advocate Maqutu’s talk it will end up being relegated to the political rhetoric that we’ve become accustomed to over the years.
That is taxpayers’ money and we demand accountability and nothing less.
