THE Electoral Commission’s visit to the United States (US) ambassador in Pretoria has caused a huge public backlash and left some questioning its legitimacy.
Election analyst Michael Atkins poured cold water on to these comments, saying anyone who criticised the IEC should do so having clear evidence, or it should be ignored.
Atkins said this campaign sought to undermine the integrity of the elections by casting aspersions on the motives of the IEC itself.
There were those who sought to derail the elections by creating a mistrust in the IEC without any evidence, or who use suggestion and innuendo to make people doubt, when there is no actual evidence of anything improper, he said.
“People from parties who don't like the decisions of the IEC cannot just say that the IEC is biased.
When it comes to mistrust, one has to look very carefully at the source. For example, Donald Trump has convinced millions that the 2020 election was rigged, but he has not won a single court case about the results,” Atkins said.
There was nothing untoward in what the commission did, he said. According to him, it was a normal courtesy visit.
“To me, it is normal for an ambassador to pay a courtesy call to the IEC. If there was anything wrong being done, then he would not be sharing pictures on social media”.
Deputy Director-General for Public Diplomacy at the Department of International Relations and Co-operation, Clayson Monyela said it was normal for the IEC to meet with diplomats.
“They have already engaged EU diplomats and will meet the Dean of African Diplomats.
“The Department of International Relations and Co-operation (Dirco) is convening a meeting of the Diplomatic Corps for a briefing by the IEC on the state of readiness for the May 29 elections, standard practice,” Monyela explained.
Some South Africans remain sceptical about the meeting, saying that it was like Africans needed to validate themselves by always reporting to Western countries.
Stephen Mokoena from Sunnyside, Pretoria, said the whole idea was bizarre as he had never heard or seen such practice before.
“This is the first I hear of this, and one can’t trust anything these people are saying because they have proven to lie to us before.
“This US ambassador just lied a few months ago, how do we then trust anything that comes out of that meeting,” asked Mokoena.
He continued to say that they are told the IEC have met other diplomats but yet they have not seen evidence of such meetings.
Recently, the DA had written to the United States (US) and several other countries, including the European Union (EU), appealing to them to help provide resources for independent domestic observers ahead of the May 29 polls.
The DA’s plea to these foreign countries was to seek assistance in capacity building for domestic observers.
The ANC lambasted the DA, saying it was ludicrous for South African political parties to appeal to foreign governments to interfere in the country’s electoral processes.
Saturday Star