statement by National Deputy Secretary
The UDM strongly objects to the decision to insist in only using the Green Bar-coded South African Identity Document (GBSAID) for the 1999 elections. The difference in the statistics in the HSRC report (commissioned by the IEC and the department of Home Affairs) and the data from the Department itself is so far removed from one another that one can not help but be skeptical about the whole issue. No explanation is provided on why these discrepancies exist.
The UDM calls on the portfolio committee to implement a monthly monitoring and auditing system to ascertain what progress the Department is making. An independent body of auditors should do this. The UDM will conduct its own monitoring and auditing exercise so as to establish just what is happening on the ground and what the people, applying for this documents are experiencing.
At any time that we feel that things are not progressing as it should, the UDM will not hesitate in calling for an amendment in the Electoral Act. The right of every voter to participate in the process of democracy overrides any other considerations in this regard.
