18 December 2007
The Electoral Commission would like to congratulate all voting delegates on their exemplary behaviour during the first round of voting today. The results will be announced some time this evening.
We would like to respond to the hundreds of rumours about manipulation of the process by stating simply that no complaint has been lodged with us. An SMS to your friends is not the correct way to raise complaints in the ANC. Any delegate who feels that any part of our process robbed them of their democratic rights should please come forward immediately and approach the Commission,
There is one rumour that we definitely cannot leave unanswered and that is that the Elexions Agency is a new company that has ties to Mo Shaik and various other people and that it has been set up specifically to fix the election results.
The Electoral Commission was given full discretion to appoint any agents to run the practical part of these elections. We act as the makers of rules, monitors and adjudicators of disputes and may not ourselves engage in the practical tasks involved. We approached Drenee Nupen, Bontle Mpakanyane and Thobile Thomas to run the elections since they have done it since 1991, first as IMSA and then as EISA staff. At the time they were partners in a training company called Umsebenzi-Mosebetsi. They agreed to assist us and registered a company specifically to focus on running elections since they are regularly approached to run elections for most provinces of the ANC, the SACP and COSATU. This company was registered in the last few weeks. We have been assured that the only directors or shareholders in this company are the three people mentioned above, as can easily be checked with the Registrar of Companies. The Agency has been transparent about the process around the setting up of the elections company to the Commission and we remain confident that they are absolutely neutral and professional.
Should anyone doubt the Commission, the Agency or any part of the accreditation process, we invite them to complain to the NEC and to use any authorised body to investigate any of us fully. We cannot respond every time a rumour is circulated via nameless SMSs, as if it is irrefutable truth.