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Printing of ballot papers in SA is a nightmare - Mambilima

Printing of ballot papers in SA is a nightmare - Mambilima
By Kombe Chimpinde
Fri 29 July 2011, 14:00 CAT

PRINTING of ballot papers in South Africa is a logistical nightmare for the Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ), says Justice Irene Mambilima.

Justice Mambilima, who is ECZ chairperson, said in an interview that it was the wish of the commission to have the ballot papers printed in Zambia, but it could not do so because government had thrown away the idea of having ballot papers printed in Zambia.

“The bottom line is that government told us that government printer, was unable to print. They said so themselves to us,” justice Mambilima said.

“We (ECZ) do not wish to go to South Africa because it is a logistical nightmare for us to go to South Africa. We have to carry political party agents. We have to carry all other stakeholders. If it is done locally it is easier. But we were informed that they had no capacity.”

Justice Mambilima said it was their wish and that of the majority stakeholders to have the ballot papers printed locally, stressing that it could not however sit idle and wait until it was too late.

“Government printers through the government threw in the towel. As an institution being responsible for conducting elections, we cannot just sit back, we have to have ballot papers for the election hence the tender that we floated. We were engaged with government from last year. We cannot force government printers to print ballot papers locally,” justice Mambilima said.

She disclosed that she had been told that all stakeholders were informed over ECZs’ decision to print the ballot papers in South Africa.

“So, I don’t know, it’s not correct to say people were not consulted, but if they were not consulted then we (ECZ) can only apologise but what we have on our records is that this issue was raised with stakeholder meetings,” she said.

Justice Mambilima said the commission had budgeted about K24 billion to K27 billion for the printing of ballot papers, but that the actual cost would be known once the contract with South African Universal Company is finalised.

And ECZ direct Priscilla Isaacs dismissed suspicions over the security surrounding the printing of ballot papers.

“We afford stakeholders an opportunity to observe printing of ballots, this includes a representative of the candidates all of whom were represented in 2008,” Isaacs said.

“All the security measures are in place to ensure that there is no tempering with the ballot papers so there will be no question of having extra or pre marked ballot papers. It is for or this very reason that the ECZ takes it upon itself to sponsor representatives from various stakeholders groups to be present through the printing of ballots up to the packing and loading and shipped to Zambia. So it is up to the political parties to appoint a credible person to monitor the process.”

Isaacs said ECZ was confident that it would not face any security challenges with the company contracted to print ballots in that it this was not the first time that the company was printing ballot papers.

“It is well known to stakeholders that UniPrint (Universal print) printed our 2008 and 2006 ballot papers. We did not experience any problems of incompetence with them. If we did we would not be going back,” said Isaacs.

And justice Mambilima said the ECZ will tomorrow (today) release an electoral time table following the announcement of the elections date by President Rupiah Banda.

“We are going to publish time table which sets out now when nominations will be,” she said.
Meanwhile justice Mambilima told traditional leaders at a stakeholders meeting yesterday that they had a critical role to play in the country’s electoral process.

She said the commission was worried with the continued public endorsements of political leaders and denouncements of others by traditional leaders.

“This has raised concerns in some quarters of the society. The question has been whether it is within the law for traditional leaders to make those pronouncements. Others have questioned our position on the matter. It is my considerable view that upon deliberating on the topics for today, we will find the answer to the question,” said justice Mambilima.

Earlier, House of Chiefs chairperson chief Madzimawe urged all the traditional leaders to sensitise the public on the need to uphold the Electoral Code of Conduct before and during elections.

Labels: 2011 ELECTIONS, IRENE MAMBILIMA

posted by MrK @ 2:28 AM