Africa-Press – Botswana. The Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) has noted with deep concern, a Media Statement purportedly released by Mr Ketihalefile FC Motshegwa, who In the same statement, identifies himself as the BNF Secretary General. The statement has been circulating in various media platforms since the 13th February 2024.
In the said Media Statement and the public comments that ensued therefrom, the IEC was subjected to sternly critical remarks and accused of being a bird of the same feather with ZEC, as well as having gone to Zimbabwe “just to learn how to rig an election, period”! Interestingly, the statement is made with utmost confidence though it was done without verification and fact checking with the IEC..
Consequently, the Commission would like to inform members of the public and all its stakeholders that these accusations are inaccurate and untruthful. In the Commission’s assessment, the accusations are merely based on unfounded suspicion, belief and fear unnecessarily held by some of the Commission’s stakeholders who peddle them.
The truth that Batswana should know is that ZEC is a member of the Electoral Commissions Forum of Southern African Countries (ECF-SADC). This is a network of all Election Management Bodies (EMBs) in Southern Africa, where member Commissions meet to have an interchange of technical support and share experiences on best practices.
In this context, in February 2023, Botswana visited sister EMBs in Kenya, Malawi, Namibia, South Africa and India to benchmark on electronic voters’ registration, to prepare for the eventual transition from manual registration to electronic registration of voters.
Now, relating to the IEC’s visit to the ZEC, it is true that on Monday the 12th February 2024, the Commission dispatched its Manager responsible for voter education and the Chief Public Relations Officer to the Republic of Zimbabwe to specifically look at the ZEC’s Accreditation Machine for Election Observers. This is the machine used to churn out Accreditation Cards for persons who come to observe elections in the country. Currently the IEC accredits both local and international Election Observers manually and this is not efficient. The ZEC’s Accreditation Machine has been hailed as the best in various reports, in terms of expeditious issuance of the Accreditation Cards. Therefore, the IEC’s idea is to see what the ZEC has and compare with what other countries in the region have, with a view to see what can work for us in Botswana, as the Commission prepares for the 2024 General Elections.
There is therefore, no benchmarking trip by the IEC to Zimbabwe aimed at learning how to rig an election as alleged in the statement. The IEC cannot and will not rig elections.
Lastly, the IEC is still appealing to all its stakeholders to verify and check facts directly with either its Secretary or the Public Relations Unit before issuing categorical statements on matters relating to its mandate.
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