The Electoral Commissions Forum of SADC countries was duly invited by the Electoral Commission of South Africa to observe the Local Government Elections to be held on the 1^st November 2021.

Election Management Bodies (EMBs) in the SADC region have nominated delegates to be part of this Mission which has 18 delegates from seven (7) member Commissions namely- Electoral Commissions of:   Malawi, Lesotho, Botswana, Mozambique, Tanzania, Zimbabwe , Namibia . The Mission is led by Hon. Semistocles S. Kaijage who is Chairperson of the National Electoral Commission of Tanzania . The Deputy Mission leader is Commissioner Daniel Chigaru from Zimbabwe Electoral Commission . The Mission period is 24^th October 2021 to 4^th November 2021.

This Mission becomes the first physical activity of the ECF-SADC since the restrictions occasioned by the Covid19 pandemic.  The Mission activities have been streamlined from the traditional observer mission programme which broadly engages with electoral stakeholders and covers   a large number of electoral Districts.

The ECF-SADC Mission shall realize the following Terms of Reference:

1. To assess the level of preparedness of IEC South Africa to conduct elections
2. To support IEC South Africa to conduct elections
3. To observe the pre-election environment and to examine the conditions in which the election shall take place;
4. To observe the conduct of the election itself; and
5. To evaluate the electoral process and make recommendations that will contribute to the improvement of this process in South Africa .

The Mission shall engage a few selected key electoral Stakeholders inclusive of IEC South Africa, Media Practitioners, academia, and regional Institutions  engaged in elections.  The Mission shall receive the various perspectives, views and impressions concerning the South Africa Elections.  The Mission shall release a Preliminary Statement on its observations on the 3^rd November 2021.