SADC to deploy Electoral Observation Mission to South Africa

In line with Article 3 of the revised SADC Principles and Guidelines Governing Democratic Elections (2021), SADC shall observe all General Elections held in its Member States. To this end, through the Department of the International Relations and Cooperation of the Republic of South Africa, the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) had on 14 March 2024 invited the SADC Electoral Observation Mission (SEOM) to observe the country’s National and Provincial Elections, set for 29 May 2024.

Furthermore, and following relevant provisions of the SADC Principles Guidelines, His Excellency (H.E.) Hakainde Hichilema, President of the Republic of Zambia, and Chairperson of the SADC Organ on Politics, Defence and Security Cooperation, appointed His Excellency Mr. Enoch Kavindele, former Vice President of the Republic of Zambia as the Head of Mission (HoM) and mandated HE Mr. Elias M. Magosi, the SADC Executive Secretary, to facilitate and coordinate the SEOM deployment to the Republic of South Africa.

The SEOM comprises Short-Term- Observers (STOs) and, Long-Term-Observers (LTOs), to be deployed to all nine (9) Provinces of South Africa for the pre- and post-election phases and the polling day. The Mission’s objective is to assess the conduct of the elections in accordance with the revised SADC Principles and Guidelines Governing Democratic Elections of (2021).

These principles emphasise, amongst others, the importance of citizen participation in the democratic and development processes, the implementation of measures to promote free and fair elections, equal access to the government-owned Media by all political parties, and the significance of acceptance and respect for the election results by all political parties.

Consequently, in line with the revised SADC Principles and Guidelines Governing Democratic Elections (2021), the Secretariat is coordinating technical, logistical, and administrative arrangements for deploying the SEOM to South Africa.

To this end, the ICT-Based Refresher Training for SEOM is taking place at the Birchwood Hotel in Boksburg for the period 17^th – 20^th May 2024.

To this effect and in line with the commitment contained in the SADC Principles and Guidelines, the launch of SEOM will be held at Birchwood Hotel, Johannesburg, in the Republic of South Africa on the 22^nd May 2024. The launch will include several election awareness activities for the electoral stakeholders to understand the work of the SEOM.

The key activities for the SEOM programme schedule comprise the following;

 SOURCE: SADC