| (1) | As soon as possible after the composition of the Commission and whenever necessary thereafter, the Commission shall appoint a suitably qualified and experienced person as chief electoral officer. |
| (2) | The chief electoral officer— |
| (a) | shall be the head of the administration of the Commission; |
| (b) | shall be the accounting officer of the Commission for the purposes of the Public Finance Management Act, 1999 (Act No. 1 of 1999), and shall cause the necessary accounting and other related records to be kept; and |
[Section 12(2)(b) substituted by section 2 of Electoral Laws Amendment Act, 2021, Notice No. 321, GG44648, dated 1 June 2021 - effective 27 August 2021, Proclamation R.35, dated 27 August 2021]
| (c) | may exercise all such powers and shall perform all such duties and functions as may be entrusted or assigned to him or her by the Commission or this Act or any other law. |
| (3) | Whenever the chief electoral officer is for any reason absent or unable to perform his or her functions, or whenever a vacancy in the office of chief electoral officer occurs, the Commission may designate a member of its staff to act in that capacity until the chief electoral officer resumes his or her functions, or a chief electoral officer is appointed in terms of subsection (1), and that member has, while so acting, such powers and shall perform such functions of the chief electoral officer as may be delegated or assigned to him or her by the Commission. |
| (4) | The chief electoral officer shall in consultation with the Commission appoint such officers and employees of the Commission as he or she may consider necessary to enable the Commission to exercise its powers and to perform its duties and functions effectively. |
| (5) | The conditions of service, remuneration, allowances, subsidies and other benefits of the chief electoral officer, an acting chief electoral officer and the other administrative staff of the Commission shall be prescribed by the Commission. |
| (6) | Notwithstanding the provisions of the Government Employees Pension Law, 1996 (Proclamation 21 of 1996)— |
| (a) | any person appointed in terms of this section who, immediately before the date of such appointment was a member of the Government Employees Pension Fund referred to in section 2 of that Law, may remain such member notwithstanding such appointment; and |
| (b) | any person so appointed who is not a member of the said fund may become a member of that fund as from the date of such appointment and, if applicable, shall contribute thereto. |
