Former Independent Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) chairperson Dr Brigalia Bam said the creation of a democratic South Africa requires a process of electing leadership with “good” qualities.

She was speaking exclusively to Polity, where she recalled how the IEC had implemented its vision for the country’s democracy, by educating citizens about their rights.

“…how we would also as an electoral commission, implement the vision, which has always been there, which is the creation of a democratic South Africa. The importance of us reaching, which was the most important thing, all South Africans in this country, from villages, from cities, from every part of the country to participate in a very important constitutional requirement in the world of voting,” she explained.

Bam highlighted that a country cannot be democratic if it does not make it possible for citizens to know their rights.

“…so we travelled and went to every village, town, informal settlement, to every prison, everywhere where there were South Africans. We had to go as the electoral commission to inform them, to participate, enter into a dialogue of understanding of what democracy is and why it was a necessary for the people to vote,” she explained.

She noted that the IEC’s job during early democratic years, was to ensure that all South Africans, particularly Africans, had identity documents.

She pointed out that this was important to allow them to participate in day-to-day life on an equal basis with white people, “who had always been privileged”.