The daughter of ANC Ward 6 Councillor, Mrs T Makhaba, who somehow ended up as the Deputy Presiding officer for the IEC at the Talana Community Hall voting station, has been dismissed.

This comes after extra ballot papers were found in the ballot box when special votes were counted on Monday.

Twenty-two people had registered for special votes but there were 30 in the box.  It is alleged that an attempt was made to mark ballot papers during the special votes while the Presiding Officer had left to ‘do a home visit’.

The EFF said in a statement “The mother of the said Deputy Presiding Officer is an ANC candidate‚ standing for elections in the same Ward. The Presiding Officer happened to walk out during the course of the proceedings to access home visits. During this time‚ the conflicted Deputy Presiding Officer was then caught by EFF Party Agent marking multiple ballots‚” according to the EFF’s spokesperson Mbuyiseni Ndlozi.

The investigation found that indeed the Deputy Presiding Officer had marked the ballot in favour of the ANC candidate‚ who is her mother.

The incident was confirmed by the DA’s Pieter de Wet -Oppenheimer who was observing the counting at the time.

The IFP’s Bongiwe Mbatha said the incident was shocking.  The DA wanted to know how a candidate’s daughter had ended up to be a deputy presiding officer.

A team of special investigators from the Hawks was in Dundee to take statements and to take possession of the ballot box which is to be subjected to fingerprinting.   Parties want criminal charges to be pressed.