MEC for Local Government and Human Settlements in Bokone Bophirima, Galaletsang Gaolaolwe is content that the Independent Electoral Commission in the province will stage successful elections tomorrow, 3rd August. This follows reports from across the province that the first day of the special votes started well with most of the voting stations opening as scheduled, except in Ratlou local municipality, ward 08 which experienced community protests.
“We appeal to our communities to allow electoral officials to do their work and also not to engage in any activities that may disrupt the smooth running of the elections tomorrow. Once more, we call out to all eligible voters including new voters to take this opportunity to go and vote, which will make them to have a direct say on who runs their ward and the municipality. We encourage voters to come out in their numbers and participate in this democratic process.
People fought the struggle and laid their lives for us to have this right. It is therefore important that we do not take the voting right for granted” said MEC Gaolaolwe.
MEC Gaolaolwe has also appealed to all stakeholders and communities in general to work together towards achieving free and fair elections. “The overall success of the election requires all stakeholders to play an active role in ensuring a peaceful environment. Ensuring free and fair elections might be the primary responsibility of the IEC, but all relevant stakeholders have a major role to play”, she added.
She also confirmed officials at the Provincial Disaster Management Centre are also on stand-by to tackle and incident that might occur. “We are ready to implement the Local Government Continuity Plan which will ensure the continuity of operations after any kind of occurrence.
Since the 26th July 2016, we have activated the Disaster Management Centre, Municipal Centres as well as the Provincial Joint Operation Centre (ProvJOC) where we work with all security structures and the IEC. This is to ensure that we deal with any incident head-on. I can declare that as the province, we are 100% ready for the local government elections” concluded MEC Gaolaolwe.
Tomorrow has been declared a national public holiday to enable all eligible citizens to cast their vote. The province is ready for the elections and all voting stations will open from 7am till 7pm.
Enquiries: Ben Bole
Cell: 071 566 1399
E-mail: msbole@nwpg.gov.za
