Labour law expert among 3 new electoral commissioners

The National Assembly has approved three new commissioners in the Independent Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC)‚ selecting from a pool of eight candidates proposed by Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng.

The three are Judge Dhayanithie Pillay‚ Nomsa Praisy Masuku and Mosotho Simon Moepya. Their names will be sent to the president as a recommendation from parliament.

Judge Pillay is one of South Africa’s leading labour law experts‚ with over 15 years of experience as a judge; 10 of which were spent at the Labour Court of South Africa‚ the ANC in parliament said in a statement. She has been sitting on the High Court bench in KwaZulu-Natal since 2010. She currently holds the position of Extraordinary Professor at the University of Pretoria.

Dr Masuku is currently the Electoral Commission’s deputy chief electoral officer responsible for outreach. She previously headed Standard Bank’s Corporate Social Investment Unit. Before she joined Standard Bank‚ she worked for the Electoral Commission of South Africa for eight years in various roles. Masuku has a PhD in English from the University of Birmingham in the United Kingdom.

Moepya has served in the IEC for more than 18 years. He spent five years as the chief electoral officer of the IEC‚ where he oversaw both the 2014 National and Provincial Elections and the 2016 Municipal Elections.