WATCH: ‘Drunk voter’ video has Hlaudi’s ACM wanting to sue the IEC
A video of what appears to be an inebriated voter has gone viral, inspiring the newly-formed party to threaten to take action.
Leader of the African Content Movement (ACM) Hlaudi Motshoeneng speaks to the Sunday Independent about his new political party at their offices in johannesburg cbd. Picture: Nhlanhla Phillips/African News Agency/ANA
A video of a voter who appears to be drunk making his mark has gone viral, causing laughter from some and outrage from others.
Hlaudi Motsoeneng’s newly-formed African Content Movement (ACM) appears to be in the latter camp, going so far as to say they want to take legal action against the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) over it.
The party’s secretary-general, Romeo Ramuada, told TimesLive the video is evidence that the IEC was not in control of the electoral process.
“Just look at the video of the voter who was drunk – and the IEC staff were taking a video and making it a joke. So you can just see that everything was loose on the part of the IEC. How can the IEC allow such things in the voting station?” he said.
“We are not fighting because we want seats in parliament, but we want a parliament that reflects the will of the people.
READ MORE: I wasn’t aiming for a seat, but to take the country – Hlaudi Motsoeneng
“As the parties, we have noted how the IEC robbed us in these elections because they realised that we did not have party agents in some of the voting stations.”
Motsoeneng – who is known for his extreme and some might say unwarranted confidence in the face of criticism – made it clear that he had high hopes for his party’s performance in their first elections, even going so far as to say he believed he had a crack at the presidency.
In reality, however, the party received a humiliating 4,841 votes, placing it 12th from the bottom in terms of support and far from attaining a single parliamentary seat.
In customary style, Hlaudi doubled down and said the votes were rigged, vowing to continue in his mission to rule the country one day.
“They have rigged these votes. We have 5,000 party agents and they have already voted. If you have 5,000 party agents voted, you can’t have that number. That number is misleading. People who voted in some of the voting stations said in those voting stations we got 0% when our people have voted for us,” he said.
Don’t drink and vote. pic.twitter.com/J74PGX82GS
— Makhosini Mgitywa (@Makhosini) May 11, 2019
(Compiled by Daniel Friedman)
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