THE Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) has hired an independent private auditor to scrutinise the voters’ roll and the technology behind it.
This as the commission’s new Director of Elections, Tebello Nthakong, takes charge of preparations for the 2028 National Assembly elections.
Ms Nthakong assumed duty on Tuesday, filling a post that has been held in an acting capacity since February. She inherits a tight calendar. The IEC’s “Road to 2028 NAE” roadmap schedules the dissolution of Parliament for November 2027, the nomination period for December 2027 and voting day for February 2028.
Briefing the media in Maseru this week, IEC chairperson, Dr John Maphephe said the audit would run on three levels. The first will examine voter records, including names, registration details and places of registration, to identify duplicate, anomalous or potentially invalid entries and to check that deceased voters have been removed. The second will test the security of the servers, virtual machines, access controls and networks holding voters’ data. The third will assess whether the registration systems work accurately and reliably, and have the capacity an election demands.
“Level 1 examines the data; Level 2 examines the security of the technology environment; and Level 3 examines the functionality and performance of the systems,” the commission said. It added that it would decide on remedial measures once the auditor reports.
The IEC did not name the auditor, disclose the cost or say when the audit would be completed.
The audit targets the IEC’s most persistent weakness. Shortly after his appointment, Dr Maphephe told the Lesotho Times that a solid and credible voter register was his first priority and that it should stop being a recurring problem. The commissioners’ action plan, a copy of which this publication obtained at the time, listed inconsistencies in voter rolls, disputes over proportional representation seat allocations, funding delays and declining public confidence among the problems demanding urgent attention.
Ms Nthakong’s arrival should also close a turbulent chapter at the Commission. Her predecessor, Mpaiphele Maqutu, resigned in February barely a day after the current commissioners assumed office, amid reported tensions over his management decisions. He denied any confrontation and insisted he left voluntarily. Lydia Macheli was appointed acting Director of Elections on 10 February, triggering a months-long standoff with Finance Minister Retšelisitsoe Matlanyane, who refused to designate her as the IEC’s Chief Accounting Officer. The dispute ended only when Dr Matlanyane relented in a letter dated 4 June.
Ms Nthakong is an electoral governance and institutional leadership professional with more than 16 years’ experience in electoral management, democratic governance, legal reform and programme implementation in Lesotho and the SADC region.
She has represented the Director of Elections in Maseru, Leribe and Mafeteng, overseeing national, local government, by-election and fresh election processes, including two politically sensitive snap elections. Her regional experience includes election observation and technical assignments in Mozambique, Mauritius, South Africa, Zimbabwe and Botswana, as well as participation in the Electoral Commissions Forum of SADC.
Most recently, she served as Project Manager of the EU-UNDP-funded Inclusive Lesotho Elections Cycle Support (ILECS) Programme, overseeing its budget, implementation and strategic partnerships. She holds two Master’s degrees in Governance and Political Transformation and Electoral Policy and Administration. She is also a member of the African Union FemWise-Africa Network and an AU-certified Short-Term Election Observer.
The commission said Ms Nthakong was going through a structured induction programme covering her priorities for her first 90 days.
Her in-tray includes aligning the IEC with the recently adopted amendments to the electoral law. The amendments make the National Identity Document the basis for voter registration and open registration to eligible citizens living outside Lesotho. The roadmap schedules diaspora registration for December this year.
The shift to the ID carries its own risk. Dr Maphephe conceded in February that access to national IDs remained a challenge. That concern sharpens if the ID becomes the only route onto the roll.
The IEC is also preparing to display the voters’ roll publicly so that voters can check their details and lodge claims, corrections or objections. Dates and venues are yet to be announced.
In a move that could reshape Lesotho’s electoral calendar, the IEC has set up a technical committee with the Ministry of Local Government and Chieftainship to study harmonising National Assembly and local government elections. The committee will examine the constitutional and legal framework, electoral calendars, registration, ICT and resources before reporting to the commission. The idea has been in the works for months. In July, Commissioner Pontšo ‘Mamatlere Matete said she would observe Zambia’s 13 August general elections, where four elections were held simultaneously, as part of an IEC study mission on harmonised polls.
The electoral model itself will be under the spotlight at a two-day High-Level Electoral Dialogue on 1 and 2 October. The first day will review the Mixed Member Proportional (MMP) system. The second will deal with political party dialogue and intra-party democracy.
The review comes amid a heated fight over how proportional representation seats are awarded. A Private Member’s Bill tabled by Revolution for Prosperity MP, Mootsi Lehata, proposes a “Best Loser” model, which would give compensatory seats to the best-performing losing constituency candidates rather than to names on party lists. The Democratic Congress has rejected it as undermining the proportionality at the core of the MMP system, and stakeholders were sharply divided at Parliament’s Law and Public Safety Portfolio Committee hearings in August. The IEC maintains that its role is to give technical advice, not to take sides.
Beyond the reforms, the roadmap sets out the operational work ahead. Registration and verification intensify from October. Temporary registration staff will be recruited in April 2027, security agencies engaged in August 2027 and observers accredited in October 2027. Registration will then be suspended ahead of the printing of the final register in December 2027. Advance voting, ballot printing and training of voting staff are all crammed into February 2028.
The commission said the roadmap had been shared with political parties. It also said it had adopted an oversight framework that tracks status, progress, risks, required action and decisions. Its latest quarterly meeting with party leaders agreed on party focal persons and revised liaison structures.
“The Commission calls upon political parties, civil society, development partners, the security sector, the media and citizens to continue engaging constructively in the electoral process and to rely on official IEC channels for authoritative information,” Dr Maphephe said.
