ANC threatens to boycott by-elections in Northern Cape ward
Ngxanga said in another instance, 11 voters were registered on an address where the owner of the house does not have knowledge of who the people are.
The ANC in Gauteng has admitted that its leadership wasn’t up to scratch in the run-up to the elections. Picture: Michel Bega
The ANC in Northern Cape is threatening to boycott the by-elections in Ward 2, Kai !Garib municipality, following allegations of malicious intentions to sway votes to the opposition. The party is contesting the elections with Hope for the Future, the Democratic Alliance (DA) and the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF).
The elections come after one of the ANC candidates passed on before the November 2021 local government elections and won the ward posthumously.
“We have noted with deep concern that with the voter registration period, the opposition fraudulently and unlawfully registered voters from the neighbouring wards. According to our tally, there are about 700 to 1,000 fraudulently registered voters,” said provincial secretary Deshi Ngxanga in a statement on Monday.
The by-elections are expected to take place on 2 February and according to Ngxanga, this may not happen as the party claims to have already booked a date and time to interdict the elections before Wednesday.
Ngxanga said in another instance, 11 voters were registered on an address where the owner of the house does not have knowledge of who the people are.
“These are just few instances of this reckless fraudulent activities by the opposition,” he said.
“We have been in constant engagements with the local Independent Electoral Commission office. The IEC conceded that there are concerning instances of voter fraud, which they undertook to investigate.
“In an endeavour to protect the principle of free and fair elections, the ANC resolved to open a criminal case for electoral fraud with the South African Police Service. This we do because we have fine-combed the voters roll and have acquired affidavits from house owners and some fraudulently registered voters.”
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The party has also instructed lawyers to interdict the by-elections for the IEC to remove all the fraudulent names, he explained.
The municipality at the centre of controversy is a hung municipality. Since the 1 November municipal polls, the municipality never had a mayor. This because the ANC, EFF, DA and Hope for the Future could not find each other during negotiations. Now, the ANC has nine seats in council and the EFF has the same number of seats. What makes the by-elections even more crucial is that any party that wins, will have to install its own mayor to lead the council.
On Monday, the EFF said it was frightened by ANC threats to boycott the elections.
“The ANC is only bluffing. It does not have proof. This is just the last kick of a dying horse. We are confident we are going to win this by-elections. Come hell or high waters, we will be celebrating victory- come Wednesday,” said EFF provincial secretary, Shadrack Tlhaole.
Attempts to solicit comment from the IEC were not successful as IEC head Bonolo Modise’s phone constantly rang unanswered.
