Image: e-Governance
Faizel Patel – 30/06/2021
With the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) saying it had not yet made a decision on whether the local government elections would be free and fair amid the COVID-19 pandemic, experts are looking at what innovative solutions could be adopted to avoid postponing elections.
South Africa including many other African countries, are set to have local government elections in October this year.
Concerns have been expressed by some political parties that the elections this year may not be free and fair given the impact of COVID-19 as well as the measures government has undertaken to curb the spread of the pandemic.
Speaking to Radio Islam, CEO and Founder of Lebone Litho Printers Keith Michael says Africa has pockets of excellence to hold elections without any disruptions.
“For us to explore these pockets of excellence is to utilise this e-marking and e-voting that we can get into. So I think it’s important for us t shy away from this notion that as Africans we do not have infrastructure neither do we do have the expertise. I think we are well equipped as Africans to understand our full potential.”
Michael says while the e-Voting system may be easy to use, South Africa might face some challenges.
“The imperative one is infrastructure. I think with the vandalisation and theft of infrastructure, that’s going to be the one thing. The second is connectivity notwithstanding all security measures around this. Technology has its own challenges, but also with that we have the physical infrastructure that needs to be in place for us to deliver a credible election.”
Michael says with the current time frames and COVID-19 situation in South Africa, there is not enough time to get the infrastructure in place including implementing voter education ahead of the local government elections in October.
Listen to the interview with Keith Michael
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