Finca: voter safety IEC's main concern

By Bongani Siqoko

EAST LONDON -- The safety of millions of voters seems to be the only major concern facing the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC)as they seek to deliver free and fair elections next month.

Provincial electoral officer Bongani Finca said while security plans were good in some areas, there were still a number of areas where there were more voting stations than policemen to guard them. In other areas police did not have sufficient vehicles.

But Finca said the IEC and its staff were willing to share vehicles with police in an effort to deliver free and fair elections.

He said a meeting with Safety and Security Minister Sydney Mafumadi and Defence Minister Joe Modise and his deputy, Ronnie Kasrils, had identified a need to deploy sufficient personnel, especially in rural parts of this province.

"And the ministers undertook to do all in their power to provide voters with the required level of security," Finca said.

Local electoral officers (LEO's) throughout the province met last week with police station commanders from different areas to discuss security arrangements in every district.

One of the requirements of the IEC is to have at least one policeman at every voting station.

The IEC also required security for all vehicles transporting ballot papers and other sensitive material to and from stations.

These were the minimum requirements for areas which have a low security risk rating. However some areas in Transkei will need more resources.

These minimum requirements have not been met but police were working tirelessly to meet them, Finca claimed.

Meanwhile about 70 percent of the election material from the IEC's head office had been received and delivered to LEO's. This includes empty ballot boxes, chairs, tables and voting cubicles.

High-security items -- the delivery of which began only this week -- will go directly to a security company contracted to handle them.

The company will take the items to high-security storage facilities identified by the LEO's.

High-security items include: ballot papers, special ink, stamps and seals for the ballot boxes.

Finca said these items would only be opened by the presiding officers in the presence of political party agents on voting day.

About 36890 people have been employed by the IEC to work at the 2683 voting stations throughout the Eastern Cape, Finca said.