IEC’s R281m budget cut added to poll preparation problems

Inundated with an avalanche of electoral challenges, including a new electoral system and educating the public about a more complex voting process, the Electoral Commission of South Africa’s problems were only exacerbated by budget cuts from National Treasury. 

The IEC effectively entered the 2024 election year with one hand tied behind its back as Treasury continues to cut its budget year after year. In the 2021 Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF), Treasury proposed cutting the commission’s budget by almost R800-million between 2022 and 2025.

In 2024/25, the IEC was allocated R2.3-billion, which was meant to cover general administration, electoral operations and outreach. It should be noted that electoral operations costs increased because of the introduction of the regional ballot paper.

During a meeting with the Portfolio Committee on Home Affairs, Andile Mbatha, the IEC’s chief financial officer, said the increased number of ballots to be printed required the IEC to employ more staff to count them before the election results were announced.

Despite an expansion of the IEC’s mandate, its budget has been cut year after year, with the R251-million cut from the 2023/24 MTEF and R30.4-million for the 2024/25 financial year slashing its budget by R281-million.

Speaking to Daily Maverick, Ground Work Collective CEO Mbali Ntuli said underresourcing of the commission by Treasury has only added to the IEC’s pressures.

"We can’t solely blame the IEC for everything that has happened. I think that Parliament and the political parties must also shoulder some blame, particularly for how they handled legislation that has come out late in the game, forcing the IEC to scramble," she said.

Ntuli said voter turnout might be affected by confusion over the Section 24A applications which led to several voters being turned away at voting stations across the country.

This amendment to the Electoral Act requires people to vote only at the station where they were registered unless they applied to vote elsewhere through Section24A.

The change necessitated a more concerted and coordinated effort towards voter education. However, the IEC’s education efforts suffered as a result of its outreach budget being cut by R21-million in the 2024/25 financial year.

National Treasury released a statement on Thursday claiming that reports that the IEC is underfunded are misleading.

"While budget reductions were announced in the 2024 Budget to address the country’s unsustainable debt, measures were taken to specifically ensure that requirements for the elections are adequately resourced,” National Treasury said.

National Treasury added that it reversed spending reductions to the IEC and made an additional R250-million available to the commission, compared with the 2023 MTBPS estimate. Additionally, it said the IEC retained its accumulated surplus of R1.5-billion from the previous financial year and new additional allocations of R350-million for the security of the election process.

Voting day arrests

Issues at a community level, including voter intimidation, assault and other violations of the Electoral Code of Conduct, have resulted in several arrests by law enforcement. 

Gauteng police commissioner, Lieutenant General Tommy Mthombeni, told SABC News that 20 suspects had been arrested for incidents such as the removal of political party posters, taking pictures in the voting box and fights breaking out at polling stations.

“You’ll find that people become excited and they take pictures of the ballot, which is not allowed, and others you find that they had squabbles at the voting lines and ultimately one opens a case against the other,” Mthombeni said. DM