Community angry about misconduct during councillor candidate elections

Katlehong residents demand a rerun for the Ward 51 councillor candidate elections, which took place in Tamaho, Alafang and Mogobeng voting districts on August 15.

The call for a rerun follows residents complaining that the elections were not free and fair.

Community members submitted a petition to the Enkululekweni ANC executive on August 16 to request another voting process and for it to be administrated by the IEC.

One of the unhappy residents, Precious Zondo, said there was misconduct during the process.

“On the day of the elections, there was misconduct in such a way that upon arrival, the voters’ roll was already marked, like mine, it was marked before me casting my vote,” said Zondo.

“People also voted more than once. They cast their first vote and then went outside to put on a doek and return to the voting station to vote again. I saw at least four people doing this.

“There was also a shortage of ballot papers. The administrators cut pages from an exercise book and wrote the candidates’ names with a pen. Their people whom they went to fetch were allowed to vote while others were told ballot papers were finished,” she said.

“As the community, we decided to write a petition and an objection. We knew it will obviously be received by the administrators because they are the leaders. They did not respond to indicate a way forward,” said Zondo.

Another resident, Lerato Tau, reiterated that residents from Mandela and Holomisa did not vote because of what he described as ongoing issues they have with the branch secretary and chairperson.

“We did not want to get involved. They said we should leave, but we waited for our turn to vote at Mogobong,” said Tau.

They were supposed to start from 09:00 to 12:00 and proceed to Mogobeng Primary School from 12:00 to 15:00 and conclude at Alafang at 18:00, he added.

He described how the processes unfolded at Alafang, where he was stationed to vote.

He said it was difficult to see some of the candidates on the ballot papers because they were printed in black and white.

The ballot papers were not stamped to show they were counted and there was no ink to differentiate people who had voted.

“A party agent was observing inside while some of us were outside. We were puzzled to see the same people go into the school more than twice.

“Some people from Mandela were fetched with a minibus taxi by one of the leaders from Mandela to come and vote at Mogobeng.

“The community refused to allow them to vote, saying they were also chased out of their voting district,” he continued.

“The gates were closed before the communicated time, which was 15:00. We had to go to Alafang only to wait for people from Alafang to vote first.

“They ended up not voting as they were told ballot papers were finished around 16:00, but when some cars arrived, all of a sudden 15 ballot papers were made available,” said Tau.

Kathorus MAIL spoke to Tshepo Nchabeleng, a party agent, during the candidate elections on the day.

According to Nchabeleng, the elections were not well organised and Covid-19 regulations were not observed.

“My observation as we were about to start was that there was no sanitiser nor social distancing,” said Nchabeleng.
“The ANC leaders kept on saying they are conducting the voting process, emphasising it is an ANC process, not an IEC process. We as party agents were told to stand aside and not interfere.

“I was curious because how could they say party agents should wait outside while they gave others voters’ rolls to assist them.

“My understanding is that as a party agent you are not allowed to check the voters’ roll. Your role is to observe that everything is going well.”

He said the branch secretary, Musi Mazwai, and chairperson Mzwakhe Faleni were conducting the voting process.

“The voters’ roll looked old and dirty and some names were already marked. I asked how they could mark people’s names before they arrived,” he continued.

“There was a voters’ roll with names of dead people; their names were used to vote by ANC members.

“My father died five years ago, but I saw his name on the voters’ roll, it was ticked as if he voted,” he explained.

He added that party agents did not have a chance to count ballot papers. When he asked how many were there, no one could answer him.

“We were supposed to know how many ballot papers there were so we knew how the process would go, but they did not allow me to count them. Everything was rushed.”

Nchabeleng said there was no privacy for ANC members during the casting of votes as the leaders could see who members voted for and they influenced who members should vote for.

“When I got closer to assess the process, I was told to stand aside. I asked if it is acceptable for ANC members to interfere while party agents do not have a say. Instead of correcting their conduct, they accused me of bringing corruption into the voting process.”

He explained that some people’s IDs were not confirmed before voting because the chairperson allowed their people to vote without requesting IDs.

“Faleni would just say ‘I know you, you are on the voters’ roll’ or ‘you look like a person who votes’ and allowed them to vote without verifying.

“Almost 20 to 30 people were granted access without confirmation, but others were confirmed. The people who were checked were those that were not on their list,” he said.

Concerns raised by residents, according to the petition

• Community members at Mandela Park and Holomisa did not vote as they were chased away.

• There was no confirmation of the number of ballot papers made available.

• The voters’ roll was already marked while some people were not allowed to vote without cross-checking by the chairperson.

• Ballot papers were copies, not visible enough for voters to recognise the picture.

• Books were used when the voting station was out of ballot papers, names of candidates were written with a pen.

• There was no stamp and ink to ensure voters do not vote more than once.

• Gates were closed earlier than the set time.

• Party agents and ANC members voted more than once.

• Party agents were chased out during the counting of votes.

• Candidates were counting the votes.

Kathorus MAIL contacted Mazwai for comment. He refused to respond and hung up the line.

He first said he is unable to comment, as he was busy. The voting officer, Michael Gabashe, zonal convener Fraizer Mnguni and secretary Muzi Ngcobo were also contacted. No response was received from them at the time of going to print.

Background story

The Enkululekweni ANC branch executives called a meeting to introduce nominated councillor candidates to the community at Mogobeng Primary School in Katlehong on August 12.

The process of introductions took several minutes to begin as the executive and the community pulled in different directions. At first, the community members were refused an opportunity to nominate their own candidates before the ANC candidates were introduced to the community.

ANC nominees included Hloni Motloung, Mokgitla Motsieloa, Keneilwe Maphuru and Lumka Poki.

Community members were later allowed to choose their candidate, Moses Gama.

The voting process commenced on August 15 at Tamaho, Alafang and Mogobeng voting districts.

According to Ngcobo, Poki was elected as the candidate councillor for Ward 51.

Objection by the community

The community refused to accept the newly elected candidate as a result of the concerns they raised. They threatened to boycott the elections.

They proposed the election committee should:

1. Rerun the voting at a central voting station for everyone within seven days.

2. Set up an independent election committee of veterans at provincial or national executive committee without branch economic committee members.

3. Ensure there is a proper voters’ roll, ink, ruler, black pens, colour or clearly visible ballot papers with clear pictures of candidates.

4. Ballot papers, voters’ roll and ballot box be shown and figures explained to candidates and candidates agents.