Howard Sackstein

Coordinator, Investigations Unit: Gauteng Office, 1994 Elections
Independent Electoral Commission, South Africa
Focus Area(s)
Elections
Critical Tasks
Election schedules
Peace councils
Voter education
Interviewers
Amy Mawson
Country of Reform
South Africa
Town/City
Johannesburg
Place (Building/Street)
Salcom Voice Services
Country
South Africa
Date of Interview
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Abstract
Howard Sackstein discusses the work of the Independent Electoral Commission’s Investigations Unit in 1994.  He outlines some of the challenges that the electoral commission faced that year, including a very limited timeframe, the logistical challenges of running elections in a largely rural country and the high levels of distrust and suspicion that permeated South Africa’s transition to democracy.  He also charts the many innovative aspects of the election, such as an electoral code of conduct that included serious sanctions, an effective voter education campaign, the use of professional mediators to settle local disputes and the establishment of party liaison committees.  He outlines some of the ingenious responses that individual poll workers displayed in the face of serious challenges.  He discusses the lessons the commission learned from 1994 and how commission staff drew from these lessons while preparing for the 1999 elections. 
 

Full Interview

144MB
Howard Sackstein Interview
Profile

South Africa's Independent Electoral Commission initially hired Howard Sackstein in February 1994 to investigate breaches of the electoral code of conduct in Mpumalanga.  Within a few weeks of joining the organization, he was promoted to coordinate the Gauteng office of the commission’s Investigations Unit, where he oversaw 36 lawyers.  After the 1994 elections, Sackstein was one of two people retained to shut down the operations of the temporary Independent Electoral Commission, before the creation of the permanent Independent Electoral Commission.  He played a key role in the 1999 elections.  In early 2010 he was running his own technology firm, Saicom Voice Services.

Keywords
codes of conduct
communications
dispute resolution
Election Management Body
election schedules
polling supplies
vote counting
voter education
South Africa
Not specified