Party says IEC robbed their votes
The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) coordinator for the Giyani sub-region, Austin Mabasa, says the party performed well in Giyani during the May elections despite IEC election results showing they managed to get little above 5000 votes in the whole of Giyani.
This comes after EFF president Julius Malema recently disbanded the top five provincial structures accusing them of having performed poorly in the May national elections. When asked how Giyani has performed in the recent elections, Mabasa said the party did well despite having been robbed by the IEC. He accused the IEC of robbing them of votes, and that the results did not represent the correct performance of the EFF in Giyani. “The EFF did perform very well on May 29 in the Giyani sub-region despite the rigging of votes by the IEC,” he said, adding that he had proof that the IEC robbed them.
“We have produced evidence and lodged an objection with the IEC regarding the results but to no avail. For instance, we got more than 10 000 votes in Giyani, which we calculated based on the results slips, but the IEC lodged 5000 votes, about half of our votes have been stolen,” he said, producing two slips that appeared to show a discrepancy in the IEC results. Meanwhile, Malema has executed his plan to dismantle the provincial leadership due to what he calls “poor performance” in the election.
Also read: Elections: Turnout low because of mistrust in Giyani villages
The first casualty in the EFF’s top five structures was provincial chairperson Tshilidzi Anikie Maraga who was removed along with five other EFF members that occupied the top five structures. Maraga was replaced by the former Capricorn District mayor, Lawrence Mapoulo, a move described by some members of the EFF as a move to create space for certain members close to the EFF leader. “I don’t believe that this is about performance, it is a witch hunt,” an anonymous EFF member commented on the dismantling plan.
According to him, if the top five structures were replaced, those on the lower levels would also be axed. “They played a big role in the rise of the EFF, if they are removed, it makes only sense that the lower structures could go,” he said. Meanwhile, according to the IEC election results, the EFF in Limpopo outperformed other provinces with the highest vote percentage of 13.99%. In Giyani alone the EFF got 7.66% or 5 418 votes from 71 459 of votes cast.
Also read: Smaller parties get fewer votes
This effectively keeps the EFF in Giyani as the official opposition followed by Democratic Alliance with 2.91% or 2060 votes. MK received 2.32% with 1639 votes. This was followed by Benny Mayengani’s party, Action Alliance Development Party, with 2.28% or 1611 voters. The biggest stake went to the ANC with 79.87% or 56 527 votes. This is the first time the ANC’s support dropped below 80% in Giyani.
