Johnathan Paoli
THE uMkhonto weSizwe party has expressed concerns surrounding what it has termed as mismanagement of the elections and called upon the leadership of the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) to resign for bringing it into disrepute.
The MK party issued a statement on Thursday, and said the conflict of interest by the IEC on the outcomes of the elections has eroded public trust in the electoral process and poses serious risks to the credibility and independence of the commission.
“MK Party is profoundly disappointed by the manner in which the IEC has mismanaged the ongoing electoral process by undermining the constitutional rights of all South Africans to freely choose their government,” MK spokesperson Ntlamulo Ndlela said.
Ndlela said the commission showed lack of competence by ignoring to communicate critical changes to the Electoral Act, specifically section 24, which restricts voters to casting their ballots only in the districts where they initially registered.
Ndlela said the election day was marred by extensive ques resulting from the malfunctioning of IEC tools and systems, notably the scanners.
The spokesperson said power outages in several areas further exasperated the situation by jeopardising the safety and integrity of ballot boxes and papers.
“Such missteps not only compromise the electoral process but also frustrated the citizens whose primary concern is a change towards a better life from the pains of the Ramaphosa-ANC,” Ndlela said.
Ndlela called out IEC commissioner Janet Love and said the commission’s officials focused on persecuting both the party and former president Jacob Zuma, instead of the challenges facing elections.
“We call for the resignation of the current IEC leadership for putting a once credible institution such as the IEC in disrepute with the sole aim of keeping Cyril Ramaphosa in power,” he concluded.
At the time of publication, the party was in fourth place nationally during the counting of votes with 153 915 or 8.18% after African National Congress, the Democratic Alliance and the Economic Freedom Fighters.
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