By Akani Nkuna
The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) on Wednesday rejected the newly endorsed candidates for the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC), accusing them of being compromised and unfit to safeguard the integrity of the country’s electoral process.
In a strongly worded statement, EFF spokesperson Sinawo Thambo said the endorsements ignored findings in a report by Chief Justice Mandisa Maya to the Speaker of Parliament that pointed to “serious shortcomings” in the competence and independence of candidates Judge Dhaya Pillay and current IEC chairman Mosotho Moepya.
In August, Maya wrote to Speaker Thoko Didiza, where she said Joyce Pitso, Granville Abraham and Nkosikhulule Nyambezi were strongly recommended by the panel.
Moepya was criticised for being defensive about the challenges confronting the IEC. According to Business Day, in the letter, Maya said that Moepya lacked “willingness to accept the inputs of others and the soft skills of empathy and sensitivity required in a leader”.
“The panel was also concerned that Moepya could not proffer any ideas on how he would improve institutional weaknesses, including the well-documented voter apathy in the country, going forward,” Maya added.
Maya said that Pillay was also seen as “an unfit candidate by the panel following her defensiveness and reluctance to concede to challenges synonymous with her tenure at the IEC”. Moreover, her stance on voter diversity and voter disengagement was unsatisfactory.
The EFF and Pillay have in the past been at loggerheads including at JSC interviews, when party leader Julius Malema labelled her a “political activist” tied to the faction of former minister of finance, Pravin Gordhan.
Thambo alleged in his press statement that the appointments were politically motivated and designed to favour individuals sympathetic to the Government of National Unity (GNU), which the EFF claims is seeking to “capture and control the IEC as part of a broader plan to manipulate the outcome of the 2026 national elections”.
“The EFF is deeply disturbed that…the ANC and its GNU partners chose to appoint individuals the Chief Justice’s panel did not consider the most suitable,” said Thambo.
“They ignored highly competent and recommended candidate like [Granville Abraham], opting instead for individuals whose performance and leadership have already raised questions about the IEC’s ability to conduct free and fair elections.”
The Portfolio Committee on Home Affairs announced last week that it recommended Joyce Pitso, Judge Pillay and Moepya to the National Assembly to serve as IEC commissioners. The committee said that leadership ability, technical competency, gender and race were the metrics used to shortlist the candidates.
“The committee is convinced that the recommended candidates have the skills, experience and capacity to drive the IEC to greater heights in delivering the mandate for the organisation,” said the portfolio committee chairman, Mosa Chabane, at the announcement.
On Tuesday, the National Assembly approved the nominees, who are now awaiting appointment by President Cyril Ramaphosa.
The EFF also said that it was aggrieved by the IEC’s “persistent operational failures”, which included dysfunctional voter management devices and the ability to register more voters.
Thambo said that the party’s post-election audits have “revealed numerous cases of EFF votes being wrongly captured”, while the ANC and DA were allocated more votes than they received.
He said the EFF had often been met with “arrogance and dismissal” when trying to address these discrepancies.
He warned that the National Assembly’s decision to overlook the Chief Justice report cultivated an environment where “constitutional delinquency” would thrive, and would undermine the integrity of democratic institutions.
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