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Parties jet to SA to monitor ballot printing

Elizabeth Kheibes
Officials from various political parties contesting in next month’s national elections are in South Africa on a nine-day visit to observe a controversial ballot printing process, which has caused a rift between the parties and the Electoral Commission of Namibia (ECN).

“The delegation will observe the design, layout, production, printing and packaging of the ballot papers,” ECN spokesperson De Wet Siluka said, adding that the electoral body will foot the bill for the trip.

The commission said the printing job will cost taxpayers N$6.3 million.

Most opposition parties condemned ECN’s decision to handpick Ren-Form CC, a South African-based printing company, to print over 1.4 million ballots for the National Assembly and Presidential elections. The parties vented their frustrations last week after the printing contract was awarded to the company, which has been linked to controversial Zimbabwean businessman Wicknell Chivayo.



Pillar to post

Acting on behalf of the Landless People’s Movement (LPM), lawyer Patrick Kauta of Dr Weder, Kauta and Hoveka Incorporated has given the ECN seven days to provide reasons why it withdrew the bid on 7 October, two days before the deadline of 9 October, only to announce later that it awarded the contract to Ren-Form.

On Friday, the commission responded to LPM’s lawyer, saying: "Please be informed that your correspondence was forwarded to the government attorney, who will respond to it accordingly. Please address all future correspondence in this regard to the Office of the Attorney-General".

The government attorney's office has since denied having any knowledge of paperwork filed with them by the ECN to take over correspondence regarding the matter.

After sending this publication from pillar to post, lawyer Frieda Matsi from the Office of the Attorney-General told Namibian Sun that they are "in the dark" on the matter. "If the lawyers are waiting for a response, they can wait for it at the ECN; they have a communications team. If they sent us anything, we have yet to see it," she said.



Democracy at risk

The Independent Patriots for Change (IPC) said the hand-picking of Ren-Form is the result of the ECN’s refusal to follow standard procurement procedures, based on ‘urgency’ which the electoral body “no doubt created itself”.

The rejection of the contract award comes after a discovery that Ren-Form has been the subject of media reports both in Zimbabwe and South Africa after allegedly being embroiled in a major corruption scandal involving the provision of election material to the Zimbabwean Electoral Commission.

Former editor of The Namibian and Namibia Media Trust chairperson Gwen Lister posted on X: “We can’t support corrupt entities and we certainly can’t put our democracy at risk”.

She added that the ECN owes taxpayers an explanation regarding its decision to award the contract to Ren-Form.

The Namibia Economic Freedom Fighters (NEFF) said if ECN does not give a favourable response, it will respond with a national demonstration. “The Namibian people must rise up and reject this betrayal of our democracy, as corrupt networks from Zimbabwe and South Africa attempt to interfere in our sovereign electoral process,” NEFF deputy leader Kalimbo Iipumbu said.



‘Tainted by corruption’

According to the Popular Democratic Movement (PDM), Ren-Form is an entity tainted by corruption and controversy as it is currently under investigation for the inflation of prices by over 400% for election-related materials and equipment for the 2023 general elections in Zimbabwe.

PDM’s secretary-general Manuel Ngaringombe said ECN has awarded this company a similar tender regardless of the current investigation underway by the Anti-Corruption Commission of Zimbabwe.

He added that the party is taken aback and highly disturbed that the electoral body did not do any due diligence on Ren-Form to ensure that the company is best suited to supply election-related materials for the 2024 elections.

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Namibian Sun 2024-11-05

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Premier League: Fulham 2 vs 1 Brentford | Manchester United 1 vs 1 Chelsea | Tottenham Hotspur 4 vs 1 Aston Villa | Wolves 2 vs 2 Crystal Palace | Southampton 1 vs 0 Everton | Nottingham Forest 3 vs 0 West Ham | Liverpool 2 vs 1 Brighton | Ipswich Town 1 vs 1 Leicester City | Bournemouth 2 vs 1 Manchester City | Newcastle 1 vs 0 Arsenal Katima Mulilo: 22° | 38° Rundu: 22° | 36° Eenhana: 20° | 36° Oshakati: 21° | 35° Ruacana: 20° | 36° Tsumeb: 24° | 33° Otjiwarongo: 18° | 33° Omaruru: 19° | 35° Windhoek: 17° | 33° Gobabis: 16° | 35° Henties Bay: 13° | 19° Wind speed: 21km/h, Wind direction: SW, Low tide: 10:52, High tide: 05:12, Low Tide: 23:16, High tide: 17:15 Swakopmund: 14° | 15° Wind speed: 18km/h, Wind direction: W, Low tide: 10:50, High tide: 05:10, Low Tide: 23:14, High tide: 17:13 Walvis Bay: 13° | 19° Wind speed: 21km/h, Wind direction: W, Low tide: 10:50, High tide: 05:09, Low Tide: 23:14, High tide: 17:12 Rehoboth: 15° | 35° Mariental: 14° | 35° Keetmanshoop: 13° | 33° Aranos: 14° | 36° Lüderitz: 15° | 29° Ariamsvlei: 10° | 30° Oranjemund: 15° | 31° Luanda: 25° | 26° Gaborone: 19° | 36° Lubumbashi: 17° | 32° Mbabane: 12° | 22° Maseru: 6° | 26° Antananarivo: 17° | 28° Lilongwe: 24° | 33° Maputo: 18° | 26° Windhoek: 17° | 33° Cape Town: 13° | 22° Durban: 15° | 20° Johannesburg: 16° | 29° Dar es Salaam: 25° | 31° Lusaka: 21° | 35° Harare: 19° | 31° Currency: GBP to NAD 22.58 | EUR to NAD 18.97 | CNY to NAD 2.44 | USD to NAD 17.37 | DZD to NAD 0.13 | AOA to NAD 0.02 | BWP to NAD 1.26 | EGP to NAD 0.34 | KES to NAD 0.13 | NGN to NAD 0.01 | ZMW to NAD 0.63 | ZWL to NAD 0.04 | BRL to NAD 3.01 | RUB to NAD 0.18 | INR to NAD 0.21 | USD to DZD 132.76 | USD to AOA 909.05 | USD to BWP 13.33 | USD to EGP 49.07 | USD to KES 129.2 | USD to NGN 1664.36 | USD to ZAR 17.38 | USD to ZMW 26.95 | USD to ZWL 321 | Stock Exchange: JSE All Share Index Same 0 | Namibian Stock Exchange (NSX) Overall Index 1876.57 Up +0.49% | Casablanca Stock Exchange (CSE) MASI 14300.12 Up +0.21% | Egyptian Exchange (EGX) 30 Index 30650.04 Down -0.59% | Botswana Stock Exchange (BSE) DCI 9845.11 Same 0 | NSX: MTC 7.75 SAME | Anirep 8.99 SAME | Capricorn Investment group 17.34 SAME | FirstRand Namibia Ltd 49 DOWN 0.50% | Letshego Holdings (Namibia) Ltd 4.1 UP 2.50% | Namibia Asset Management Ltd 0.7 SAME | Namibia Breweries Ltd 31.49 UP 0.03% | Nictus Holdings - Nam 2.22 SAME | Oryx Properties Ltd 12.1 UP 1.70% | Paratus Namibia Holdings 11.99 SAME | SBN Holdings 8.45 SAME | Trustco Group Holdings Ltd 0.48 SAME | B2Gold Corporation 47.34 DOWN 1.50% | Local Index closed 677.62 UP 0.12% | Overall Index closed 1534.6 DOWN 0.05% | Osino Resources Corp 19.47 DOWN 2.41% | Commodities: Gold US$ 2 743.51/OZ UP +0.27% | Copper US$ 4.45/lb UP +0.75% | Zinc US$ 3 126.30/T DOWN -0.16% | Brent Crude Oil US$ 75.96/BBP UP +0.49% | Platinum US$ 998.41/OZ UP +1.82% Sport results: Premier League: Fulham 2 vs 1 Brentford | Manchester United 1 vs 1 Chelsea | Tottenham Hotspur 4 vs 1 Aston Villa | Wolves 2 vs 2 Crystal Palace | Southampton 1 vs 0 Everton | Nottingham Forest 3 vs 0 West Ham | Liverpool 2 vs 1 Brighton | Ipswich Town 1 vs 1 Leicester City | Bournemouth 2 vs 1 Manchester City | Newcastle 1 vs 0 Arsenal Weather: Katima Mulilo: 22° | 38° Rundu: 22° | 36° Eenhana: 20° | 36° Oshakati: 21° | 35° Ruacana: 20° | 36° Tsumeb: 24° | 33° Otjiwarongo: 18° | 33° Omaruru: 19° | 35° Windhoek: 17° | 33° Gobabis: 16° | 35° Henties Bay: 13° | 19° Wind speed: 21km/h, Wind direction: SW, Low tide: 10:52, High tide: 05:12, Low Tide: 23:16, High tide: 17:15 Swakopmund: 14° | 15° Wind speed: 18km/h, Wind direction: W, Low tide: 10:50, High tide: 05:10, Low Tide: 23:14, High tide: 17:13 Walvis Bay: 13° | 19° Wind speed: 21km/h, Wind direction: W, Low tide: 10:50, High tide: 05:09, Low Tide: 23:14, High tide: 17:12 Rehoboth: 15° | 35° Mariental: 14° | 35° Keetmanshoop: 13° | 33° Aranos: 14° | 36° Lüderitz: 15° | 29° Ariamsvlei: 10° | 30° Oranjemund: 15° | 31° Luanda: 25° | 26° Gaborone: 19° | 36° Lubumbashi: 17° | 32° Mbabane: 12° | 22° Maseru: 6° | 26° Antananarivo: 17° | 28° Lilongwe: 24° | 33° Maputo: 18° | 26° Windhoek: 17° | 33° Cape Town: 13° | 22° Durban: 15° | 20° Johannesburg: 16° | 29° Dar es Salaam: 25° | 31° Lusaka: 21° | 35° Harare: 19° | 31° Economic Indicators: Currency: GBP to NAD 22.58 | EUR to NAD 18.97 | CNY to NAD 2.44 | USD to NAD 17.37 | DZD to NAD 0.13 | AOA to NAD 0.02 | BWP to NAD 1.26 | EGP to NAD 0.34 | KES to NAD 0.13 | NGN to NAD 0.01 | ZMW to NAD 0.63 | ZWL to NAD 0.04 | BRL to NAD 3.01 | RUB to NAD 0.18 | INR to NAD 0.21 | USD to DZD 132.76 | USD to AOA 909.05 | USD to BWP 13.33 | USD to EGP 49.07 | USD to KES 129.2 | USD to NGN 1664.36 | USD to ZAR 17.38 | USD to ZMW 26.95 | USD to ZWL 321 | Stock Exchange: JSE All Share Index Same 0 | Namibian Stock Exchange (NSX) Overall Index 1876.57 Up +0.49% | Casablanca Stock Exchange (CSE) MASI 14300.12 Up +0.21% | Egyptian Exchange (EGX) 30 Index 30650.04 Down -0.59% | Botswana Stock Exchange (BSE) DCI 9845.11 Same 0 | NSX: MTC 7.75 SAME | Anirep 8.99 SAME | Capricorn Investment group 17.34 SAME | FirstRand Namibia Ltd 49 DOWN 0.50% | Letshego Holdings (Namibia) Ltd 4.1 UP 2.50% | Namibia Asset Management Ltd 0.7 SAME | Namibia Breweries Ltd 31.49 UP 0.03% | Nictus Holdings - Nam 2.22 SAME | Oryx Properties Ltd 12.1 UP 1.70% | Paratus Namibia Holdings 11.99 SAME | SBN Holdings 8.45 SAME | Trustco Group Holdings Ltd 0.48 SAME | B2Gold Corporation 47.34 DOWN 1.50% | Local Index closed 677.62 UP 0.12% | Overall Index closed 1534.6 DOWN 0.05% | Osino Resources Corp 19.47 DOWN 2.41% | Commodities: Gold US$ 2 743.51/OZ UP +0.27% | Copper US$ 4.45/lb UP +0.75% | Zinc US$ 3 126.30/T DOWN -0.16% | Brent Crude Oil US$ 75.96/BBP UP +0.49% | Platinum US$ 998.41/OZ UP +1.82%