It would appear that my posting of yesterday, IEC website only open to Internet Explorer users , has certainly caused a storm of interest.While this was not the intention of the posting, it is nonetheless reassuring to see the effective of online media to draw attention to a particular matter and to involve the wider community.
There have been some interesting comments left, on this blog and other websites.
One of the most controversial was left anonymously, and alleges that the IEC is not as independent as first appears. While this remains just an anonymous comment, my friend and fellow blogger, Eishman, has picked up on this sentiment in his post, Corporatocracy alive and well in SA?
Having looked again today at the IEC website and found myself faced with the same error page, I wonder if my anonymous commentator has only JUST been assigned this "urgent" assignment to ensure that the website is compatible with all browser types?
if this is the case, then one has to wonder how long this has been the state of affairs? and indeed, with the popularity of browsers OTHER than Internet explorer - just how many people have tried to access the IEC website while it has been "under construction"?
A web designer, Mokokoma Mokhonoana has looked at this issue from a web design point of view on his blog, pointing out several errors that this type of error page is committing from a professional web design point of view. This makes you wonder what type of web budget there is in place - or what the money is being spent on?
Having decided, against my will, to refer to the IEC website using Internet Explorer, I found that in fact I was not missing out on too much. While I could download the Constitution and Electoral Acts, I couldn't immediately find answers to the questions I had.
The website is kept up to date though - with the latest posting being made on the 14th October 2008 - detailing the Municipal by-elections in Gauteng.
Does this really mean that the IEC have been updating this website - but for Internet Explorer users - and blissfully unaware of those of us with any other browsers? Seems the narrow mindedness knows no end...
