By OBAKENG MAJE 
The African National Congress (ANC) has commended the Independent Electoral Commission’s (IEC) for its speedy investigation into the unauthorised sharing of the ruling party’s candidate list. This comes after alleged that, the IEC has fired its official who leaked the ANC and MKP candidate lists to the media.

Last week, the ANC’s candidate list was leaked to the media and that raised eyebrows. Many people questioned IEC’s credibility on how it handles information with individuals’ personal information in potential contravention of the Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA). 

The ANC national spokesperson, Mahlengi Bhengu-Motsiri said, the ruling party has successfully submitted its National and Provincial candidate lists for the 2024 National and Provincial Elections via the IEC online candidate nomination system (OCNS) on 8 March 2024, as stipulated in the Electoral Timetable.

“We welcome the great public interest in the ANC’s collective of candidates, who represent the mosaic of South African diversity. However, we have noted with concern that ANC candidate lists that appear to emanate from the IEC online candidate nomination system were circulated on social media. 

“But, we are pleased to learn that this was not a result of a security breach, but rather the neglectful conduct of an individual. The conduct of the implicated official has jeopardized the personal details of all the individuals on our candidate list,” she said.

Bhengu-Motsiri urged all the appropriate authorities to swiftly address this matter. She further said they reiterate their full confidence in the IEC to deliver yet another free, fair election. She added that, they are still confident in the IEC’s proven track record of administering and overseeing free, fair, and credible elections over the past three decades.

“The IEC continues to do so with professionalism, impartiality and integrity, attributes, which have also extended to the secure management of confidential information,” said Bhengu-Motsiri.

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