Electoral commission faces backlash over controversial ballot paper tender and costly South Africa trip

The Electoral Commission of Namibia (ECN) is under fire for arranging a nine-day trip to South Africa for politicians to inspect the production of ballot papers for Namibia’s upcoming elections.

The ECN is being lashed by political parties for its decision to hand-pick Ren-Form CC, a South African company linked to the inflation of a ballot-printing tender in Zimbabwe, for this tender.

The tender is worth about N$6.2 million.

The Republican Party (RP), the Popular Democratic Movement (PDM) and the Christian Democratic Voice Party (CDVP) have boycotted the trip and are planning to take part in a protest march against the ECN today.

They want the commission to withdraw the tender and launch a public procurement process, which they argue would be more transparent.

The ECN’s delegation of 18 political parties contesting in the presidential and National Assembly elections departed for South Africa on Sunday.

They are the Action Democratic Movement, Affirmative Repositioning, All People’s Party, Body of Christ, Congress of Democrats, Independent Patriots for Change, Landless People’s Movement, Namibia Economic Freedom Fighters, National Democratic Party of Namibia, National Empowerment Fighting Corruption, National Patriotic Front of Namibia, National Unity Democratic Organisation of Namibia, Rally for Democracy and Progress, Swanu of Namibia, the Swapo Party of Namibia, the United Democratic Front of Namibia, the United Namibians Party and the United People’s Movement.

COMPLICIT

Political analyst Rui Tyitende says the parties which sent delegates to South Africa are complicit in the saga.

“For the parties which initially protested against Ren-Form CC’s appointment, their willingness and participation to observe the printing of the ballot papers implies that they are confused as they are saying ‘yes’ and ‘no’ to the appointment of a dodgy company like Ren-Form,” he says.

Tyitende says the parties should have boycotted the process to convey the message that anything that compromises the integrity of the electoral process will not be condoned.

He says the current shenanigans surrounding the ECN significantly undermine the commission’s credibility.

“It will most likely erode public confidence in their ability to conduct a free, transparent and fair election,” he says.

The analyst says the matter is either one of gross incompetence or is intentional, which makes it more disturbing.

Political analyst Henning Melber says it’s strange to send 18 party representatives to South Africa for nine days to oversee ballot printing.

“It borders on a capitulation of the ECN when it comes to its failures to award the tender to a company with a clean track record,” he says.

Taxpayers are essentially footing the bill for the trip, he says.

“Do these participants earn travel allowances on top of a free trip? If such scrutiny is necessary, it could have been arranged in a much more cost-saving manner without the involvement of 18 different parties,” he says.

Melber says there is a need for a total revamp of electoral oversight and management.

“This is an embarrassment for Namibian democracy,” he says.

FEARS OF RIGGING

PDM leader McHenry Venaani alleges Ren-Form is working with the ECN to rig the elections.

“This company is corruptly tainted, not only by one country but two countries, South Africa and Zimbabwe. So what’s the point of the ECN deliberately saying that they were too late to do due diligence and the due process of tendering?” he asks.

Venaani says the ECN is eroding the elections’ credibility.

“We cannot involve ourselves in a process we do not believe in. We are going to appeal at the tender board on this question,” he says.

“We might litigate, we might lose all these things on technicalities and so forth, but our position remains that we are not in cahoots with the ECN, and we are seeing their shenanigans,” he says.

RP president Henk Mudge says the entire executive of the ECN should resign.

“We need to get people there who can organise a proper, free and fair election,” he says.

He says the party will not accept the printing of ballot papers by Ren-Form.

“When the news broke that the company that got the tender, this company in South Africa, that they were also involved with corrupt practices in Zimbabwe, and the fact that some of the Swapo members also visited them beforehand, just showed that there is something very wrong,” he says.

Mudge says the party has not instituted any legal action.
“We will support any party, and I think the PDM is already busy with that, we will support any legal action,” he adds.

MAKING SURE

LPM spokesperson Lifalaza Simataa says the party is participating in the trip to ensure the ECN does not allow rigging.

“We believe it would be opportune for the ECN, if they are rigging, for no political party to be present when the ballot papers are being made,” he says.

Simataa says the party will be challenging the ECN legally.

Swanu secretary general Wendy Christian says the ECN has failed to ensure transparent and fair printing, and ultimately fair elections.

“Someone at the ECN failed to follow the mandate for authorising the ballot printing.

However, the best remedy now is sending representatives to observe the process,” she says.

Christian says the parties who did not send representatives are depriving their voters of the chance to observe.

“Obviously, we are disappointed in how the ECN ignored political parties’ objections and continued with the printing of the ballot papers – with a company that has been named in dubious transactions,” she says.

The ECN says the delegation will observe the design, layout, production, printing, packaging and delivery of ballot papers.

The delegation is expected to return on 29 October.

ECN spokesperson De Wet Siluka could yesterday not provide the exact budget for the trip.

“The amount of the money spent can only be known when the representatives are back. The commission will spend on everything, including the meals, accommodation and flight tickets,” he said.