Johannesburg - Months after Parliament appointed President Jacob Zuma’s former adviser, Glen Mashinini, to the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC), the national legislature is filling a position left vacant by another IEC member, Raenette Taljaard.
Taljaard quit the IEC in February after Parliament had endorsed the name of Mashinini. The ANC had used its majority to approve the latter’s name.
Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng has given MPs the task of finding a replacement for Taljaard after he submitted a list of eight shortlisted candidates.
The portfolio committee on home affairs would sift through the shortlist on Tuesday.
The panel of Chapter 9 institutions, led by Justice Mogoeng, interviewed the candidates in Joburg last month.
Some of those interviewed by Justice Mogoeng, Public Protector Thuli Madonsela and Human Rights Commission chairman Lawrence Mushwana include two former and current IEC staffers.
IEC deputy chief electoral officer for outreach division Nomsa Praisy Masuku was one of the candidates interviewed.
Parliament did not release the list of the eight candidates shortlisted by the panel on Monday. Other candidates who went through the interviewing process were business-woman Charlotte Mavhungu, former acting superintendent-general for education in KwaZulu-Natal Simon Mbokazi and former IEC official Mokgadi Mothapo.
Another former IEC staff member, Gerdileen Taylor, was also grilled by the panel.
Taylor, who is a chartered accountant, was working in the internal auditing unit of the IEC.
When Parliament approved the name of Mashinini a few months ago, opposition parties were up in arms because of his perceived proximity to Zuma.
The ANC was forced to use its majority in Parliament to endorse Mashinini’s name.
However, Mashinini previously worked for the IEC and was deputy chief electoral officer between 1998 and 2001.
Three days after the portfolio committee on home affairs approved the name of Mashinini, Taljaard, a former DA MP, quit the commission.
She denied at the time that her resignation was linked to Mashinini’s appointment.
Zuma has not yet named the successor to Pansy Tlakula as new IEC chairperson.
The Star