ANC canvass at voting station

The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) in Umjindi has accused the African National Congress (ANC) of canvassing for votes which was prohibited by the elections’ regulations.

On Monday May 5 the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) chairman Pansy Tlakula, said no political events were allowed to take place on voting day (May 7). She said a cut-off time for parties who wanted to convince voters a final time was on Tuesday at midnight.

However, the ANC was allegedly spotted canvassing for votes at a station and distributing T-shirts, bearing the face of Nelson Mandela, to people at Glenthorpe Primary School.

This allegedly occurred less than 100 metres from the polling stations. The EFF liaison officer in Umjindi, Vusi Gwebu expressed his disappointment at the IEC, saying the electoral body had not enforced the IEC regulations properly. He said they should have stopped ANC members.

Former Umjindi ANC councillor, Makhubo Majikiza Magagula was allegedly seen driving the party-branded bakkie, distributing the T-shirts with the help of unidentified party members.

Gwebu said they were also not satisfied the way special voting went in Umjindi. “The IEC failed to provide transportation for its officials. At the end we witnessed ANC members transporting IEC officials to home visits with voters. Many of those who voted didn’t feel free because they were instructed which party to vote for.

“Most of the presiding officers at polling stations were educators affiliated to the South Africa Democratic Teachers Union (SADTU). Everyone knows that SADTU is part of an alliance with the ANC and they do everything in their power to win. We never saw any independent observers of Europe in all the stations we visited,” said Gwebu.

He said they were, however, pleased as an organisation that they had delivered on their target. “Our ultimate goal was to get seats in parliament. We achieved that and we are happy about it,” said Gwebu.

The EFF, being first participants in elections, received 6,26 per cent in Umjindi, which assisted them in obtaining two seats in the Mpumalanga Legislature and 25 seats nationally. An attempt to get comment from the Umjindi ANC was unsuccessful at the time of going to print.

Sibusiso Themba, ANC provincial spokesman, was quoted in Lowvelder. He said they were aware about the incident and that handing out regalia was not sanctioned by the party’s provincial leadership.