Parties jet to SA to monitor ballot printing

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 postActing 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 riskThe 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.

Parties jet to SA to monitor ballot printing

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Namibian Sun 2024-11-22

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Parties jet to SA to monitor ballot printing

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Namibian Sun 2024-11-22

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