Elections 2024: ‘We can’t waste South Africans’ time’ – Magashule on his demands for a recount

Tensions around the legitimacy of the votes tally at the IEC’s Results Operations Centre are rising.

Disgruntled opposition parties are set to meet to discuss their push to have the ballots recounted.

Magashule says election ‘completely unfair’

African Congress for Transformation (ACT) leader Ace Magashule is among the most vocal of the aggrieved politicians, calling the vote counting “completely unfair”.

ALSO READ: ACT’s Magashule says election is rigged, wants IEC to do a recount

Addressing the media on Saturday morning, the former Free State premier outlined the steps being taken to orchestrate a recount.

“We all intend to go to court. We are just waiting for the IEC responses. Even in the Western Cape, all parties, except the DA, are calling for a recount. The required deadline [for objections] was yesterday 9pm, so we followed all procedures,” stated Magashule.

When asked what made him believe there were irregularities, he claimed to have been informed of incidents were the votes recorded at voting stations didn’t match the numbers recorded at the results centres.

Quoting the numbers he had observed, he added: “You think that is not material? We can’t waste the time of South Africans. We want the results to be free and fair. Almost 11 parties are complaining and we are going to meet now.”

ANC claims majority in Free State

ACT were tipped as being a dark horse in the Free State, but their performance has left Magashule disappointed. He believes a recount will see him get more than the 11 589 claimed by the province’s vote counters.

ALSO READ: Election results: ANC keeps majority in Free State but slips 10%

The ANC maintained their control of the province, although this time with a much slimmer margin.

The party dropped to 52.88%, while the DA maintained its position as the second largest party in the province, finishing with a 21.31% of the vote.

The EFF rose to 13.09%, with the Freedom Front Plus seeing a decrease in support from 3.71% in 2019 to 2.49% this year.

The official announcements are set to be made on Sunday, with a proclation and allocation of seats set for Thursday 6 June.