Picture: Gallo Images / Dino Lloyd
A 37-year-old official from the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) has been convicted and sentenced after being charged with electoral fraud.
The IEC welcomed her conviction and sentencing in a recent statement, explaining that the elections presiding officer – identified as Nomusa Precious Gabuza – fraudulently cast 24 votes during last year’s local government elections.
GCIS reports that Gabuza was charged after she was “caught out by the internal processes of the Commission to prevent voter fraud”.
GCIS further reports that she was found to have abused her position by breaking the law when she stuffed 24 ballot papers into a ballot box ahead of the local government elections held on 1 November 2021.
According to the IEC, she was sentenced at the Umlazi Regional Court in Durban during the week.
Gabuza was sentenced to three years of correctional supervision and four years’ imprisonment, wholly suspended for three years, after she pleaded guilty to contravention of the Local Government Municipal Electoral Act 2000.
“The offence committed by Gabuza was discovered and she was arrested on the morning of 1 November 2021, before voting started. The voting process proceeded without incident.
“The Commission lauds the partnership with political party agents, the police, the National Prosecution Authority, which ensured that Gabuza was not only caught but served with justice eight months after the crime was committed,” the Commission said.
The IEC also called the sentence “a strong affirmation of the Commission’s systems which have now been strengthened with the introduction of the Voter Management Device, which makes double voting impossible.”
“It also underscores the Commission’s commitment to timely intervention and consequence management,” concluded the Commission.
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