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One of the DA's leadership candidate, Mpho Phalatse, has cast doubt on the credibility of the party’s electoral system ahead of the national congress scheduled for Gallagher Convention Centre in Johannesburg from Saturday to Sunday.
In a video that is circulating among the party delegates, Phalatse questioned the credibility of the electronic voting system and counting method, arguing that it was not a fair system.
Phalatse said she had spoken to many delegates attending the congress over the weekend, and they raised serious concerns with her about the electronic voting system and the counting method. She accused the party of not doing enough to allay the fears of delegates that the system was credible and could be trusted.
“I believe a lot needs to be done to win the trust and confidence of voting delegates that they can trust the system,” she said.
Phalatse added with any new electoral system, there must be a change in management and a plan to accompany the system so that no one was left behind.
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She said the DA was using a manual voting and counting system before the outbreak of Covid-19, but the electoral system was introduced during the outbreak of the coronavirus in 2020.
However, addressing the media about the state of readiness, the party’s chief electoral officer, Greg Krumbock, said the electronic voting system offered several advantages and was quick.
“The possibility of human error on a manual system when you have to capture 21 050 entries, because that's the number of entries we will have when you take into account all the elections we have, exists. With manual counting to capture and count all of that, human error will creep in after tiredness following many hours of that. However, with the electronic voting and counting systems, this will be done literally in seconds,” he explained.
He said they used the current system in the past elections and many congresses, including in the City of Johannesburg, where Phalatse was the caucus leader.
Krumbock said:
He said they didn't believe those were issues at all.
Krumbock stated each delegate would be given a unique code, which would eliminate multiple voting by delegates.
“That's our mechanism to make sure that that code isn't used again.”
He said voting would be done in a secret ballot and assured the nation that the election of the new leadership would be free and fair.
“Our presiding officers are here to make sure that the election is run in a fair, impartial and completely impeccable way, guaranteeing the secret of the vote. We will have candidate agents from every candidate who is contesting a position to this congress at the counting station and they will be allowed to observe the registration process.”
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He said observers would be involved from start to finish to make sure that everything was above board.
Krumbock also disputed talks of the congress being white-dominated, which could sway the results along racial lines.
He said they did not and would not do a racial headcount: “We judge people on the content of the character, not on the colour of their skin. And you will see the delegates.”
He averred their congress was going to be the most diverse in the country's history, adding:
The party is also expected to discuss policy amendment, which includes economic, police and land reform.
Krumbock said they expected nearly 2000 delegates at the congress, which was made up of branch activists, councillors, members of the provincial legislature and members of Parliament from across the country.
“Each province will be sending a sizable delegation, depending on their proportional support and branch formation in new territories for the DA. As such, it is crucial that we deliberate and vote on resolutions which seek to address the many issues that confront the people of this country.
“These will include resolutions on building the economy and creating jobs, urban and rural safety, and the restoration of the Parliament of South Africa. Over the next couple of days, the DA will discuss and vote on 43 resolutions, seeking to drive the DA’s policy agenda and give practical expression to our values of freedom, fairness and opportunity.”
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He said the resolutions presented would build on and extend the DA’s policy offers for creating an inclusive society. The resolutions will speak to key areas of exclusion with a focus on how the DA will address them as a party of the national government.
“We are a truly inclusive party with 45% of our delegates and activists being non-public representatives coming from our branches.
“The congress is important for South Africa because the leaders elected may very well be the leaders who will reshape the national government as the ANC’s support again drops below 50% in 2024,” stated Krumbock.
