IEC defends decision to grant former MK party leader Khumalo access to results centre

The IEC has defended its decision to grant the former leader of the MK party, Jabulani Khumalo, a day pass at the Results Operation Centre (ROC) in Midrand.

The MK party had complained about Khumalo’s visits to the IEC’s ROC due to the fact that Khumalo was no longer a member and a leader of the party.

Ordinary citizens welcomed at ROC

But the IEC’s Sy Mamabolo said ordinary South Africans were welcomed at the ROC.

According to Mamabolo, “if there are additional capacity, members of the public may come and get day passes,” but first preference would be given to politicians, parliamentarians and other dignitaries and officials.  

“The issue of day passes occurs, [and] the primary people that we want to accommodate are the contestants themselves as well as yourselves because you play an important role in creating a window for South Africans at home to see into the electoral process,” he said.

Despite this, Mamabolo could not confirm if Khumalo would be at the ROC on Wednesday, where the current leadership of the MK party, including former president Jacob Zuma, was expected to be present.

Meanwhile, the IEC has confirmed that two people from Mpumalanga have been arrested for tempering with IEC material.

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According to Mamabolo, the two individuals are members of a political party. They allegedly followed an IEC official who was transporting a used ballot box and tempered it.

Incidents of concern

“The two people that have been arrested are in Mpumalanga, both of them for having interfered with the material of the commission,” he said.

In a separate incident in Chesterville, members of another political party barged into the home of an IEC official at night and interrogated the official.

“Followers of a political party went to the home of a presiding officer under the cover of darkness, woke him up, and said he must account for the ballot material already delivered at a voting station,” Mamabolo said.

He said the commission found the acts of the individuals to be very serious and offensive.

“A violation of that presiding officer and undermining that presiding officer’s human dignity,” Mamabolo said.

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Mamabolo said it was a difficult task to manage the election process with numerous voting stations and a large staff complement from all walks of life.

“Something is bound to go wrong. When that happens, you have to take a step back and say, in relation to the law, how material is that?” he said.

Mamabolo said the commission was also concerned about the integrity of the commission being undermined.

“I think in these elections there is a clear orchestration to undermine the credibility of the outcome,” he said.

But he said the commission was resolute and was firm in protecting the integrity of the election’s outcome.

Come out in numbers to vote

Meanwhile, Mamabolo said he expected the South Africans to come out in large numbers to cast their votes on Wednesday.

“The turnout of anything more than what was achieved in 2019 would be satisfactory, so if we hit the 70% mark, I will be due a bonus,” he said.