On 5 May 2024, the South African Council of Churches (SACC) gathered religious leaders, members of the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC), the South African Police Service (SAPS) and political parties and independent candidates for a National Prayer Day ahead of the elections.  The call during that afternoon was for a peaceful electoral process, and peace has indeed prevailed over South Africa during this electoral process.  

The SACC and the National Foundations Dialogue Initiative (NFDI) would like to extend its gratitude to the citizens of South Africa, who have demonstrated a commitment to our democracy. We would like to congratulate South Africa for concluding a peaceful electoral process, where incidents of violence, intimidation and lawlessness were low. A word of congratulations is also in order for the political parties and independent candidates of the country, who successfully demonstrated their willingness to work for the greater good by participating in campaigning and electioneering peacefully.  

As the election results have now been declared, we stand as witnesses to the true meaning of “the will of the people”, as the results demonstrate that the results are calling for collaboration.  We note that it would not be possible for the diverse election results to be honoured as a true reflection of the public’s vote, were it not for the cooperation of our political parties. This process of voting, counting, and announcing the election results in an environment of peace demonstrates the maturation of SA’s democracy.

We offer South Africa our congratulations off the back of the citizen observation mission that the SACC mounted, in collaboration with the National Foundations Dialogue Initiative (NFDI). Our observers were present in all nine of South Africa’s provinces and were first-hand witnesses of the voting experience. This observer and monitoring work is built on the foundation of the SACC’s pillar of Anchoring Democracy and the NFDI’s promotion of active citizen participation in our constitution.

As we commend the work of the IEC and its leadership for concluding an important process in our democracy, we must also take on board the learnings that have emerged from our Observer Mission. The trained volunteer observers, comprising both SACC church leaders and member church congregants performed their duties to global standards of non-partisan election observation and monitoring as set out for citizen observers. They gathered their data on a customised application that enabled real-time responses, aggregated by the observer mission Nerve-Centre. A total of 435 observers were deployed in all nine provinces, the bulk of whom were tasked to observe the elections at their closest Voting Stations.  These volunteers monitored the entire election process inclusive of opening, security presence, crowd control, IEC officials’ performance, closing and vote counting. Some observers additionally visited other Voting Stations in their provinces as roving observers.

In general, we noted that the electoral process ran very well at most voting stations. At the polling stations we observed, our observers were the only non-party agents observing the opening process, giving us a broad and unique perspective as observers.  Key wins for the IEC were the more than 99% of our observers reporting that voting stations opened on time. 363 (83%) of polling stations reported a peaceful environment and noted queues of voters at the time of opening. The presence of the SAPS and their work with crowd control was noted as ‘orderly’ and ‘professional’, with 290 observers rating security support as very good.  At 430 (97%) stations, observers reported that the IEC officials were following the correct procedures for the voting process, such as the verification and marking of voters on the manual voters’ roll, stamping of the ballots and inking of the left thumb with indelible ink.

However, we noted that for some, the challenges experienced by them during the electoral processes impacted the speed at which voting could take place. Some observers noted that in those stations where voting started late, it was primarily caused by IEC officers who appeared unsure of the electoral processes. Observers reported long queues in many parts of the country, with some voting stations recording long queues of voters even at 21h00 when the voting stations were scheduled to close. The observers reported that some polling stations experienced issues during closing, including late arrivals of voters demanding access to vote, challenges with insufficient lighting, and use of the Voter Management Devices (VDMs).

The observers across all nine provinces noted that the VMDs used to scan voter IDs failed regularly, and in many stations, the manual voter’s roll was used as the primary and sometimes sole means of verification. Observers noted that IDs often had to be scanned several times before device recognition was established, and that IEC officials and voters alike were frustrated by the slow verification process. 

The IEC would also need to consider the broader impact on time that the underperforming VMDs cause, and the slow processing of Section 24A voters have on concluding the voting process within one day. This is particularly important as some of our observers reported polling stations closing several hours after the official closing time of 21h00.

We noted that, despite the snaking queues seen in various provinces, the voter turnout was lower than in 2019, by over 1.5 million people. Each vote is precious and unique to only one individual, so it should be a concern for all of us as registered voters that up to 12 million people did not cast their votes. 16, 290,156 votes were cast in 2024, compared to a total number of 27,782,081 registered voters. A strong voter turnout is a sign of greater citizen involvement and lends more credibility to the mandate arising from such high voter participation and is an indicator of the health of our democracy. We must all work together to increase registered voter participation in the election process. 

We have also observed the manner in which the IEC has been responding to various questions and challenges that have arisen in the voting and results process.  There has been a level of respectful fluidity and an adherence to the letter of the law which is as we would expect from the IEC. Some of the questions around the glitch in the results platform that was experienced on 31 May have received the required attention and response; we also note the concerns raised by some political parties. We put our faith in the constitutional instruments given to us in resolving such disputes as we call upon all of us to use such mechanism.

We believe the 2024 National and Provincial election process, despite some glitches and obvious areas of improvement, was run in a manner and atmosphere that allowed the voice of the people to be expressed in accordance with the Constitution. 

The results reflect a country that is ready to embrace a collaborative approach to governing at provincial and national levels, where no one party holds majority, but where each party must hold the other accountable to the needs of the people.
 

In conclusion, the management of a national election is a considerable logistical task, for which the IEC should be commended. We take pride in the service the IEC has provided to the nation, from the commissioners, the executive team and the more than 200, 000 people who were in the employ of the IEC. The complexities that came with the uniqueness of these elections obviously brought its own challenges, which you had to overcome.  

 Our vision for South Africa is that of a country that is healed and reconciled with its past, free of deprivation and discrimination, where every child will have the opportunity to reach his/her God-given potential. This is the South Africa we pray for, and we hope our political leaders will commit to work towards this vision as well.

ENDS

4 JUNE 2024

MEDIA STATEMENT

FROM THE DESK OF REV MZWANDILE MOLO, ACTING GENERAL SECRETARY