IEC,+Brigalia+Bam,+and+Lotto,+Rhoda+Kadalie,+Business+Day

Business Day, Johannesburg, 02 November 2006
=Why IEC’s Brigalia Bam shouldn’t be playing Lotto=


 * Rhoda Kadalie**

THE public is outraged, and rightly so, at the awarding of the lottery management contract to the Gidani Consortium, an African National Congress (ANC)-linked entity. Those linked to Gidani are the usual overempowered head honchos — Chris Nissen, Cyril Ramaphosa, Brigalia Bam and Bongani Khumalo.

Now that President Thabo Mbeki’s term is coming to an end, his cronies are on a feeding frenzy at the trough of black economic enrichment. The National Lottery is known to make a profit of R40m annually, and this is why the vultures swooped in on the prey, which they got by means more foul than fair if the losing consortium Igwija Gaming is anything to go by.

While the Lotteries Act explicitly states that no political party or office bearer may have direct financial interests in the management company, these names are synonymous with the ANC despite Trade and Industry Minister Mandisi Mpahlwa’s reassurances that the process was above board. I should like him to explain how awarding contracts behind closed doors can be fair, open and transparent.

One name among this lot of “entitlers” worries me immensely, and that is the chairwoman of the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC), Brigalia Bam. She is listed in Empowerdex as the 20th most influential black economic empowerment woman on the JSE. There is no woman more connected to the ruling elite than Brigalia Bam. Her CV on the internet lists her past functions as president of the Women’s Development Foundation, vice-chairwoman of the Human Rights Commission and secretary-general of the South African Council of Churches.

By the way, another beneficiary is Anne Letsebe, a director of the ubiquitous Women’s Development Foundation, whose members seem to be very connected to the ruling elite, despite the fact that as an organisation their achievements in developing women have been minimal.

Back to Bam. The internet does not list any of her directorships and I would like to know if she has declared these anywhere, so that one may know how many she holds while also holding down a highly paid constitutional job, one of the most important in this country. And here lies the rub.

According to the Electoral Act 73 of 1999, every member of the electoral commission shall serve impartially and independently and perform his or her functions in good faith and without fear, favour or prejudice. If appointed in a full-time capacity, the member should serve as such to the exclusion of any other duty or obligation arising out of any other employment or occupation or holding of any other office, unless specifically authorised by the president. The member may not, by membership, association, statement, conduct or in any other manner, place in jeopardy her perceived independence, or in any other manner harm the credibility, impartiality, independence or integrity of the commission.

As chairwoman of the IEC, Bam has many conflicts of interest and I should like to know where she has declared any of these directorships. If she has declared them upfront, even that is not good enough. Politicians and public officials believe that the act of declaring their interests in itself exonerates the conflict of interest, and so they continue with impunity.

But it is not enough to declare. Bam should resign if her directorships are in conflict with a job that requires the utmost integrity. If these interests are deemed to be more important than her job as chairwoman of the IEC, then she is clearly in the wrong job. Can we be confident that Bam will not rig an election in favour of the ANC with whose interests hers are firmly enmeshed? What guarantees do we have that as one of the “Queen BEEs”, she will exercise her functions without fear or favour, independently and impartially?

The Electoral Act states explicitly that if by association or conduct her perceived independence is placed in jeopardy, she should reconsider whether or not all these vested interests are not harming the credibility, impartiality and integrity of the commission. Well, not only has the process of awarding the licence to Gidani been questioned, its foreign partner “has been dogged by allegations that it flouted its lottery responsibilities in Russia while its chairman and 23% shareholder, Socrates Kokkalis, faced charges ranging from money-laundering to espionage”, according to Rob Rose, business columnist of this paper.

The opposition and the media have kept very quiet about the chairwoman of an institution critical to our democracy, especially given the parlous state of ANC politics, and the fact that more than 10-million people did not vote in the last election. Under these circumstances, the IEC’s officials should be above board and squeaky clean.


 * Kadalie is a human rights activist based in Cape Town.


 * From: http://www.businessday.co.za/articles/article.aspx?ID=BD4A308083**

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