Last Monday, the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) convened a three-day, multi-stakeholder conference to explore the introduction of electronic voting in South Africa.
Electronic voting, or e-voting, allows voters to cast their ballots remotely, whether from home, place of work, another country or designated kiosks within polling stations.
Since the establishment of the IEC in 1996, South Africa has implemented significant reforms to its electoral laws. However, the introduction of electronic voting could present a double-edged sword in terms of the trustworthiness of the electoral process, especially amid unjustifiable attacks on the IEC by political actors.
While experts caution that electronic voting does not guarantee an increase in voter turnout, it presents a valuable opportunity for the government to advance mass digitalisation. By integrating e-voting into the electoral system, South Africa can modernise its voting infrastructure, streamline administrative processes and potentially improve accessibility for voters, including those in remote areas or living abroad.
Moreover, e-voting can serve as a catalyst for broader civic engagement, fostering greater participation by making the electoral process more inclusive, efficient and adaptable to the digital age.
A robust, secure, fault-intolerant, tech-driven and integrated national population register and identification system is fundamental to building trust in any e-voting system. Such a system must be accessible and resistant to manipulation to ensure the integrity of the electoral process. Without these safeguards, e-voting risks becoming a target for those seeking to undermine democracy.
Moreover, any weaknesses in the system could fuel the growing tide of misinformation, which played a significant role during the last election.
It is difficult to envision how these critical safeguards could be established — let alone guaranteed — given the persistent challenges faced by the State Information Technology Agency (Sita). As the government agency responsible for providing IT services to departments and public entities, Sita has been plagued by systemic inefficiencies, governance failures and operational dysfunction since its inception. Chronic underperformance, allegations of mismanagement, corruption and outdated infrastructure have severely undermined its ability to deliver reliable and secure digital solutions.
Without urgent reform and significant investment in modernising agency’s capabilities, the prospect of a secure electronic voting system remains highly improbable.
The department of home affairs serves as the custodian of the national population register and identification system but its heavy reliance on Sita for IT service provisioning has long been a source of operational inefficiencies. For instance, in recent years Sita’s shortcomings have significantly hampered the department’s ability to deliver reliable IT processing services to other state entities, such as the Companies and Intellectual Property Commission (CIPC). The CIPC has frequently struggled with insufficient IT processing capacity, leading to system downtimes and transaction backlogs that have disrupted its operations.
South Africa must adopt a strategic and sovereign approach that prioritises domestic capacity-building, diversification of technology partners and stringent safeguards against foreign manipulation. Failure to do so could leave South Africa’s electoral integrity vulnerable
While there have been notable improvements in the CIPC’s system in recent months, these gains remain fragile and do little to inspire confidence in the agency’s overall capacity to support a robust e-government ecosystem.
Sita’s current state is misaligned with the ideals of a digital infrastructure necessary for seamless service delivery. If e-voting is to become a viable option, urgent reforms are needed to ensure the underlying IT infrastructure meets the highest standards of security and efficiency.
Although the IEC successfully conducted yet another highly credible election in 2024, it cannot afford a recurrence of the technical and logistical challenges that marred certain aspects of the process. One of the most significant issues was the malfunctioning of the voter management devices, which led to confusion at some polling stations and undermined public confidence in the system. These technical glitches not only caused delays but also provided malign actors with ammunition to question the integrity of the electoral process, fuelling misinformation campaigns.
To safeguard future elections, the IEC must prioritise a thorough review of its technological systems. This includes rigorous stress-testing of e-voting infrastructure, improved contingency planning and enhanced cybersecurity measures. Without these critical interventions, the introduction of new digital solutions risks exacerbating existing vulnerabilities, rather than strengthening the electoral process.
Perhaps the most glaring issue in the e-voting debate was conspicuously absent from the conference: South Africa’s reliance on foreign, particularly US-based, technology vendors.
The risks of such dependence are far from hypothetical. The administration of US President Donald Trump administration, under the heavy influence of venal tech oligarch Elon Musk and other corporate interests, demonstrated how economic power could be weaponised to advance an “America First” foreign policy. This policy not only prioritises US strategic and economic dominance but actively serves the business interests of Trump’s billionaire allies, often at the expense of global partners.
This raises serious concerns about entrusting South Africa’s electoral infrastructure to US technology giants such as HP, Amazon, Microsoft and Starlink. Any reliance on these companies carries geopolitical and economic risks, including potential external interference or undue influence over South Africa’s electoral processes.
Moreover, Trump’s administration effectively weakened or even dismantled the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, a critical legal mechanism previously used by the US department of justice to hold corrupt American multinationals accountable. This rollback removed an important safeguard that had, in the past, been leveraged to prosecute US corporations complicit in illicit dealings — some of which were implicated in South Africa’s state capture scandal.
South Africa must adopt a strategic and sovereign approach that prioritises domestic capacity-building, diversification of technology partners and stringent safeguards against foreign manipulation. Failure to do so could leave South Africa’s electoral integrity vulnerable.
The implementation of e-voting in South Africa offers a unique opportunity to modernise the electoral process. Recognising the significance of this potential transformation, the IEC has published a policy discussion document, inviting public input on the potential adoption of e-voting in the country. This initiative marks a crucial step in shaping the future of South Africa’s electoral system, ensuring it remains secure, inclusive and adaptable to the digital age.
Let’s make our democracy work!
• Khaas is founder and chairman of Public Interest SA, an IEC-accredited election observer whose e-Government Barometer initiative is designed to assess and monitor the state of e-government in the country.
For opinion and analysis consideration, email Opinions@timeslive.co.za
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