Civil society wants minutes of questionable meeting between IEC and US ambassador to SA
This is the second time US Ambassador Reuben Brigety has sent the country into a tailspin after last year's claims that SA sold arms and ammunition to Russia in its invasion of Ukraine.
FILE: An IEC ballot box. Picture: Cindy Archillies/Eyewitness News
JOHANNESBURG - Civil society organisation Democracy in Action has given the Electoral Commission seven days to make public minutes of a meeting the electoral watchdog had with a delegation including US ambassador to South Africa.
An image posted on social media by US Ambassador Reuben Brigety sent tongues wagging on Tuesday, sparking a string of questions about the reason for the meeting.
This is the second time Brigety has sent the country into a tailspin after last year's claims that SA sold arms and ammunition to Russia in its invasion of Ukraine.
With 28 days to go to South Africa’s general elections, the US is at the centre of political squabbles after the Democratic Alliance (DA) made an appeal to the global superpower to oversee the country’s May 29 polls.
In a letter from the DA to US officials the opposition party called on countries in the west not only to throw resources to observe the upcoming elections, but to consider setting up parallel voting tabular processes.
The African National Congress and other parties hit back at the DA accusing it of offering the country’s sovereignty up on a silver platter.
Tuesday’s meeting between the IEC and the controversial Brigety has now fuelled fears that the DA’s request is being given credibility.
Democracy in Action chairperson Thabo Mtshweni says the organisation wants answers from the IEC, including claims the US government is funding SA’s elections.