Religious leaders meet Western Cape political leaders to urge peaceful elections

W. Cape religious and political leaders at Bishopscourt.

With an eye on the pending national and provincial elections, the Electoral Code of Conduct Observer Commission (ECCOC), chaired by Archbishop Thabo Makgoba, met with representatives  of nine political parties active in the Western Cape on Tuesday 29 January at Bishopscourt.

The purpose of the meeting was to introduce ECCOC to political leaders.  One of ECCOC’s tasks is to ensure that political parties and their leaders understand that they should not incite violence and instability at election times when tensions could be running high.

“We help to defuse tense situations where they arise or seem likely, by playing a mediating role at times of stress or potential violence. We hope that political parties and the electorate see our presence as helping to ensure that there is a moral presence on election day,” said the Archbishop.

He said that ECCOC will have a strong presence at polling stations, acting as an observer. Its presence will stress the need for a moral and value driven election and ECCOC will report any irregularities and inappropriate behaviour by parties to the IEC.

The parties present at the meeting indicated support for ECCOC and thanked the Archbishop and his ECCOC team for acting as an independent and impartial influence prior to and on election day.