THE Democratic Alliance in Ekurhuleni plans to report the ANC to the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC), the Auditor General and the Public Protector for breaking the laws governing elections and its blatant abuse of public money for political gain.
The DA alleges that the ruling party deliberately held back the launch of an important electrification project, as well as other community briefings, in the days leading up to the election in a bid to gain votes for the ANC through government delivery.
At the end of March the community of Esselen Park, through their DA ward councillor, Johann Jordaan, requested a meeting with the MMC for Water and Energy, Aubrey Nxumalo, for the first weekend in April.
The purpose of the meeting was to give the MMC an opportunity to give the community feedback and a progress report on the electrification project in Esselen Park ext 3. The community’s request was ignored.
The electrification project had in fact commenced on April 25, a full 11 days before the MMC “launched” the project on May 6 at 5pm, mere hours before the polls opened in the 2014 general election, Jordaan said.
“According to IEC legislation, all forms of campaigning must cease 24 hours before the start of the election. While this was ostensibly a government project and these should have nothing to do with political campaigning, the timing of this launch was suspicious and demands investigation,” he said.
The DA said this was not the only project that saw its launch take place in the week leading up to the elections. On May 3 there was a mass progress report meeting in Mayfield; on May 5 the launch of the construction of 833 toilets took place in Zonkisiswe; on May 5 all projects around the Thokoza mid-block reallocation project was held and also on May 5, the switch-on of the Palm Ridge Electrification Project happened.
“All of the above projects had been ongoing for months, causing much frustration in communities which were not routinely kept updated of progress. It was only in the days leading up to the election that these communities suddenly received information that they had long been seeking.
“The DA says it would not allow this obvious misuse of public funds and barely subtle attempts at last-minute campaigning by the ruling party go unnoticed.
“The DA looks forward to one or all of these institutions to which the matter has been reported, taking urgent steps to ensure that penalties are imposed on the ruling party for its continual abuse of power,” Jordaan said.
