By refusing to share an electronic voters rolls, the IEC is mischievous

The Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) spokesperson Rre Osupile Maroba was at sixes and sevens when asked a direct question by BTV’s Matlho a Phage anchor Rre Omphile Sehurutshe: Is the IEC going to provide an electronic version of the voters roll on its website. A primary school pupil watching the programme would have expected a categorical Yes or No answer. But Rre Maroba provided neither a direct Yes or No answer.

He would have been characterised as an unreliable or hostile witness had he been a witness in court. This notwithstanding his emphatic Yes answer to the question whether or not provision of an electronic version of the roll is permitted by the Electoral Act. If the Act allows it, why is it not provided particularly that political parties confirm the same was the case in previous elections and importantly, that the IEC has not disputed it. 

Is the IEC not aware that it’s reluctance or refusal to do so feeds prominently into the public discourse that it is planning to play dirty in the 30 October general election? I cannot think of any other reason members of the public could posit other than that one. It is laughable and at the same time deeply concerning that in the era where technology is the way to go, the IEC is still clinging on the analogue era of stacks and stacks of paper even when technology, by and large, makes it easier for us to disseminate information. I smell a rat! That the law allows for the provision of the electronic version of the voters roll as Rre Maroba has said, such should be provided ASAP. It is not a discretionary matter for the IEC not to do so but absolutely mandatory. In other words, it is not a favour but an entitlement. If the IEC is allowed to get away with it, it will further render this democracy primitive and backward. Let’s talk.