With a career spanning close to 20 years, outgoing IEC Commissioner and Vice-Chairperson, Terry Tselane says he’s proud with his achievements at the Commission. The IEC veteran has been involved in countless elections including four national and provincial elections, four municipal elections and hundreds of by-elections. This making him a record holder for most elections delivered by any Electoral Commissioner in South Africa.
As expected, it hasn’t been an easy ride for Tselane. Being an IEC Commissioner opens up the flood-gates to criticism and pressures from political parties from every political spectrum. This being the core reason why the new group of Commissioners need to be headstrong and practice impartiality.
Tselane’s term of office ends this year and we recently caught up with him to discuss his legacy, the new IEC Commissioner appointments and more.
In Part 1 of the 3 part interview series, Tselane talks about the things he will miss and won’t miss about being an IEC Commissioner. He also reflects on what he has achieved during his almost 20 year tenure in office.
In part 2 we talk about what it takes to be an IEC Commissioner and what his future plans are. (SPOILER ALERT: he’s not done with monitoring elections…)
Finally in part 3, we talk about his institutional memory and what he hopes the new commissioners will take away from his leadership and whether they will be prepared for the 2019 elections.
Let us know what you think about these interviews or the IEC Commissioner appointments which is still underway. You can find us on Facebook at myxcounts or Twitter at @MVC_SA.
My Vote Counts NPC is a non-profit company founded to improve the accountability, transparency and inclusiveness of elections and politics in the Republic of South Africa. We work to ensure that the political and electoral systems are open, fair and accountable to the public and that they remain relevant in the changing South African socio-political context.
