Pascalinah Kabi
NEWLY appointed Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) chairperson Mphasa Mokhochane and his fellow commissioners say they are raring to go after their swearing-in this week.
Mr Mokhochane said their urgent tasks included appointing a new director of elections, holding by elections in constituencies whose members of parliament have died as well as cleaning up the voters’ roll and delineating electoral constituencies ahead of the 2022 elections. The office of director of elections has been vacant since the July 2020 expiry of the contract of former occupant, Letholetseng Ntsike.
Mr Mokhochane and fellow commissioners, Dr Karabo Mokobocho and Mr Tšoeu Petlane, were appointed last month by King Letsie III on the advice of the Council of State.
Their appointment- effective from 1 December 2020- brings to a close the long wait for IEC commissioners after numerous court battles delayed the appointment of the successors to the previous commissioners whose contracts expired in January 2019.
Former IEC chairperson, Justice Mahapela Lehohla, ‘Mamosebi Pholo and Makase Nyaphisi’s contracts expired on 7 January 2019 and the previous Thomas Thabane-led government refused to renew them.
But the process of appointing new commissioners was delayed by several court applications including the trio’s Constitutional Court application to try to cling to their posts. It was dismissed in October last year.
The Transformation Resource Centre (TRC) and two others also filed a July 2019 Constitutional Court application demanding a broad based, public, transparent process for the appointment of IEC commissioners. The civic group also sought the nullification of the appointment of Workplace Solutions as the consultants in the recruitment of new IEC commissioners, arguing that the recruitment company was appointed illegally.
The TRC’s co-applicants were one Maieane Khaketla, who was seeking to be appointed IEC commissioner, and the African Ark political party.
The Constitutional Court dismissed the TRC and its co-applicant’s application on 11 August 2020 on the grounds that the applicants lacked the legal standing to stop political parties from recruiting new IEC commissioners.
The verdict was upheld by the Court of Appeal on 12 October 2020 thus paving way for last month’s appointment of the new IEC commissioners.
Messrs Mokhochane, Mokobocho and Petlane were sworn-in this week by Chief Justice Sakoane Sakoane at the High Court buildings.
Law and Justice Minister Professor Nqosa Mahao and his principal secretary Lebeko Sello attended the swearing in ceremony along with 30 other people in line with public health regulations which prohibit large gatherings as part of efforts to fight the Coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic.
Speaking on the sidelines of the ceremony, Mr Mokhochane acknowledged the enormity of the task ahead of them to restore the image of the IEC after the conflicts which had saddled the electoral body in the past year.
Apart from the fight over the appointment of new commissioners, IEC workers also took the electoral body to court over its failure to implement recommendations for their promotion and salary increases.
Speaking on these and other issues, Mr Mokhochane said: “we heard from the media of the small conflicts that were happening in the IEC”.
“As a parent, when you have ten children in a home and leave them alone at home, they will fight each other.
“But now that the commissioners are in place, the first thing that we have to do is to appoint a director of elections to mobilise and control all the funds as well as ensure that there are adequate personnel at the IEC.
“To be honest, we have been the outsiders and we are coming into the IEC with a lot of ideas and we may find that some of our ideas will not work.
“But primarily, we have been appointed to conduct free and fair elections which will be accepted by every Mosotho. Now the question is, how do you make elections to be free and fair? The various IEC departments will assist us to achieve our mandate of conducting free and fair elections,” Mr Mokhochane said.
He said although their appointment was effective from 1 December 2020, they could not begin work or even visit the IEC offices as they had not been sworn in as commissioners.
“We could not talk to the media and we could not even visit the IEC offices because we had not taken oath of office. Now that exercise has been done, we will move into office and meet the IEC staff. The actual work begins now,” he said.
He said although they had just over a year to prepare for the 2022 polls, he was confident they would deliver a credible election.
“It is true that people are eagerly waiting for the 2022 elections and having previously worked with the IEC staffers, I know they are already making preparations for the elections.
“We will still sit down with them and come up with plans on how best to deliver free and fair elections. There are things that we still have to do to ensure we deliver free and fair elections.
“The first thing that we need to deal with is the voter’s roll. We have to clean up the voter’s roll because there is an indication that the Basotho nation may not accept the election results if the voter’s roll remains as it is today. We will sit down with the staff and they will show us how best we can clean up the voter’s roll.
“We also know that there are pending by-elections. Our immediate assignment is to deliver by-elections for national and local government elections. Holding the by-elections will be the litmus test to show that the IEC has dealt with its issues and is now ready to execute its mandate.
“The demarcation of electoral constituencies is another big assignment which must be done now,” Mr Mokhochane said.
By-elections are due in the Kolo constituency after Democratic Congress (DC) legislator, Putsoane Leeto, died in July this year after a short illness.
They are also due in the Makhoroana constituency following the death of All Basotho Convention (ABC) legislator, Lefu Hlomelang, in December 2019.
