Pretoria – President Cyril Ramaphosa on Friday announced the appointment of Ms Janet Yetta Love as a Commissioner of the Electoral Commission of SA (IEC).
The President has made the appointment in terms of Section 6 of the Electoral Commission Act of 1996 (Act No. 51 of 1996) which directs that the appointment be made on the recommendation of the National Assembly.
Ms Love becomes one of five Commissioners – the number determined by the Act – and is appointed for a term of seven years.
Her appointment follows a series of interviews conducted with candidates by a panel established in terms of Section 6(3) of the Electoral Commission Act.
The panel was chaired by the Chief Justice of the Republic and included the Chairperson of the South African Human Rights Commission, the Chairperson of the Commission for Gender Equality and the Public Protector.
The Chief Justice submitted a shortlist of eight candidates and their curricula vitae to the National Assembly for consideration to fill a vacancy in the Electoral Commission.
The matter was referred to the Portfolio Committee on Home Affairs which recommended on 12 September 2023 that the National Assembly approve the nomination of Ms Love.
On 19 September, the National Assembly agreed to the nomination.
Ms Love joined the Electoral Commission as a part-time Commissioner in April 2016, and then full-time as Vice-Chairperson in November 2018.
Having played a role in fighting for freedom as an anti-apartheid activist in the 1970s, Ms Love returned to South Africa in 1990 and became involved in negotiating South Africa’s new constitution and establishing the first democratic government.
Ms Love served as a Member of Parliament for the African National Congress in the first democratic Parliament from 1994 to 1999, and was a member of the 22-person Constitutional Committee of the Constitutional Assembly, the body responsible for steering the constitution-making process.
Ms Love then served in various government and civil society institutions, including working in the South African Reserve Bank for five years as head of strategic analysis dealing with various security risks relating to cash that affected South Africa’s financial stability
Ms Love has a strong commitment to human rights and in her capacity as National Director of the Legal Resources Centre since 2006 she has taken up public interest and constitutional cases on behalf of marginalised communities and individuals.
“President Ramaphosa wishes Ms Love well in her new capacity in the service of the nation and in an institution which is critical to the integrity and vibrancy of our democracy,” said Vincent Magwenya, Spokesperson to the President.
