Pretoria - President Jacob Zuma has applauded outgoing chairperson of the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC), Dr Brigalia Bam and two other commissioners for serving the country with distinction.
"Dr Bam and your team, allow us to extend our deepest gratitude to you, for making the IEC an institution that has entrenched both the culture and practice of multiparty constitutional democracy in our country.
"Under your stewardship, the IEC has placed South Africa at the forefront of electoral democracy in fulfilling the mandate and commitment to constitutional democracy in our country," the President said.
Zuma was speaking at a gala dinner to bid farewell to Bam, Commissioners Thoko Mpumlwana and Fanie van der Merwe on Saturday.
The outgoing Commissioners have successfully conducted six elections including the national and provincial elections in 1999, 2004 and 2009.
Again, they also successfully managed the 2000, 2006 and 2011 Local Government Elections which were free of any serious incidents and complied with the international standards of free and fair elections.
"Your sterling work has not gone unnoticed; it will continue to guide and assist us in building a prosperous nation that is committed to the value enshrined in our constitution.
"It is more inspiring for us that this highly successful institution (IEC) is run by women compatriots. You have proved that women are capable of running any institution and to fill any position in our country indeed," he said.
Zuma said while many people around the world thought that South Africa would not hold incident-free, non-racial, non-sexist, inclusive and democratic elections in 1994, 'we proved the sceptics wrong.'
The President said he's truly proud of the magnificent work the Commission has done over the past 14 years since historic inaugural 1994 election.
"Despite the predictions of doomsayers during each election, we find that more and more young people go out and vote. This augurs well for the future of our democracy," he said.
Zuma also commended the IEC for its consistency in applying electoral rules without fear or favour as well as promoting multiparty democratic system in the country.
The IEC has been called to share lessons with other commissions by other countries. Government has received numerous requests from its counterparts in the African Union (AU), Southern African Development Community (SADC) and elsewhere to assist in the electoral democratisation processes.
The IEC participated assisted with the elections in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Comoros, Lesotho, Namibia and many other countries in the region and continent.
