E Molewa: Independent Electoral Commission anniversary
celebrations

11 October 2007

Programme Director
Leaders and members of the Electoral Commission
Distinguished guests
Ladies and gentlemen
All protocol observed

It seems almost like yesterday when, 13-years ago, millions of our people
across the length and breadth of our land, flocked confidently to our various
polling stations to make a mark that symbolically declared to the whole country
and the world: "We are turning our backs on our ugly past and embarking on a
new journey of hope, optimism and collective future."

Since then, each day that dawn moves us closer to the vision of a better
life for all. Each day that dawn confirms that ours is a maturing democracy.
Since its inception 10-years ago the Independent Electoral Commission has been
a consistent and reliable partner as we proceed on a long and difficult journey
towards the consolidation of our democracy.

I can state without any fear of contradiction that, as one of the key
institutions established to support our democracy, the IEC has discharged its
mandate with distinction and confidence. In the process, the IEC has taught
many of us about the values of independence, fairness and political tolerance.
Thanks to the IEC and our appreciation of the meaning of electoral contest, as
political parties and voters we have learnt and accepted to be gracious in
defeat and humble in victory.

As we mark the tenth anniversary of the IEC, we must make a solemn
commitment that we will spare neither strength nor effort in our endeavour to
consolidate and cement our electoral system of democracy. At the same time, we
must be grateful for the commitment and tireless efforts by ordinary men and
women who are working for the IEC for bringing and sustaining confidence
amongst our people in the legitimacy of our democratic elections.

Elections are at the heart of democracy, particularly in a country such as
ours where, for decades, the right to vote was portrayed and presented not even
as a privilege but some kind of holy experience fit for the chosen few. In the
process the meaning and purpose of elections was lost to many but a handful.
That, in turn, compounded the challenge faced by the Electoral Commission when
freedom dawned and our masses could exercise their natural right to decide upon
their leaders.

Ours, indeed, was a birth both in and of blood and no metaphor is intended
there. Ours was an experience where none but those thoroughly drunk with
optimism predicted even a semblance of normality and no hyperbole is intended
there. With this as a background of doubt, scepticism and pessimism, the
success of the first and indeed subsequent, elections was a remarkable feat. It
is one of those handfuls of events in history that truly deserve the
appellation of "miracle". It is magic call it witchcraft if you will but indeed
you cannot deny the fact that it boggles the mind and defies logic.

Even magic, however, requires a magician to perform it. Even miracles are
ascribed to some power, natural or supernatural. Our elections, too, were and
continue to be the work of a special breed of men and women; people called upon
by destiny to hold, almost literally, the very future of a nation in their
hands. Sometimes we tend to forget what powers the Constitution of this country
invests our Electoral Commission with. Lest I inadvertently plant the ideas of
a coup in the minds of otherwise good people, let me say more about that at
another time and in another place.

For now let me speak from the perspective of government and say had it not
been for what some have hailed as the very first and thus far only truly free
and fair election Africa has ever experienced, this country would not have been
blessed with a saintly government of the saintly Nelson Mandela to set a tone
of national reconciliation and reconstruction.

Just as that first government set the country on the path to the relative
prosperity we are experiencing today, so did that first election set the stage
for two more elections of a standard on par with the best the world has to
offer, and on at least one occasion even bettering the much-vaunted American
election. Consequently, we are one of a select group of countries in the world
where the freedom and the fairness of an election is taken for granted assumed
to a point where the deployment of external election observers is considered a
possible waste of money.

That is no accident of history. It is a testament to the resolute will, the
unbridled energy and the genius of the men and women under the inspired
leadership of Brigalia Bam who understand the literal meaning of the word
patriotism. We have seen elections in our country bring the best of our people,
with volunteerism letsema, vuk'uzenzele lived as a reality almost palpable and
touchable.

We have observed extraordinary situations where voter education has been
used not as a weapon of indoctrination and a party political tool but as an
instrument for mass education in democracy. We have witnessed the myth of
division burst like a fully inflated balloon as our people black and white and
young and old have queued together in animate conversation as long lines snaked
their way to voting booths. Our elections have, like our victory in the 1995
Rugby World Cup and other sporting events involving our national teams, tended
to unite rather than balkanise our people. That, in no small measure, is due to
the spirit that the IEC nurtures in its preparation of the country for the
elections.

We are one of the most demanding and stubborn nations on earth. We are
notoriously difficult to please. That, therefore, the IEC has won our grudging
confidence attests to that body's integrity. That it can run an election
without its impartiality questioned or its legitimacy challenged is a sign of
its morality political and otherwise.

I began, Programme Director, by saying that during the birth pangs of the
free and democratic South Africa only a few understood the true meaning of
elections. Many having been deprived of their right to vote viewed them as an
extraordinary experience. It took our Electoral Commission to implant in our
minds and stamp in our hearts the idea that the purpose of elections is not for
those standing to be elected but for people to exercise their inalienable right
to elect their representatives.

That paradigm shift explains in no small measure both the accountability our
leaders subscribe to and our people's exercising of their rights through
protests and demands for service delivery. We do, of course, sadly have
instances of the abuse of our democracy both by some of our elected
representatives and some of our people. It is, however, a symbol of the
strength of our democracy that these remain anomalies factory faults rather
than the norm.

It is correct to say, then, that we owe our very democracy largely to the
democratic tradition of our historical and courageous struggle, but that we owe
its consolidation and reinforcement to the leadership of the IEC. I have
deliberately thus far said little about the logistics of an election. That is
because I cannot even begin to hope to make anyone here understand the sheer
bureaucracy involved the statistics at play and the organisational capacity
required.

Suffice it to say that no Masters of Business Administration (MBA) programme
can prepare anybody for the level of project management entailed by this
army-like co-ordination and discipline needed to ensure even as seemingly
mundane a task as the delivery of ballot papers. It might, at this point, be
proper to invoke and acknowledge the role of our security services in the
elections we have held. While we have not had to be overly worried about
threats, real or imagined to the elections, we have had the comfort of knowing
that both our army and our police service supported by the intelligence organs
of the country have always been on standby and on full alert for any
eventuality. That partly explains the miracle we are trying to fathom.

In closing one must pay tribute to our people black and white and their love
and hunger for freedom, peace and democracy. Our spirit as a nation of many
languages, different colours, a multiplicity of religions and a variety of
cultures has been nothing short of the extraordinary. Our commitment to the
future of our country and that of our children and the children of our children
has been our mainstay. Our unshaken belief in democracy has been our strength,
and it has not been misplaced. As Winston Churchill has said of democracy:

Many forms of government have been tried and will be tried in this world of
sin and woe. No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise. Indeed, it
has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all those
others that have been tried from time to time.

Our future, for better or for worse, lies in our continued space to express
our will and that space is in the custodianship of our Electoral Commission. It
is because it has discharged that responsibility with aplomb that the
Commission is still here today, healthy 10-years old and we as the government
of the North West province salute and applauds it as it begins its second
decade.

I thank you all.

Issued by: Office of the Premier, North West Provincial Government
11 October 2007