The uMkhonto weSizwe Party (MKP) in KwaZulu-Natal says it has gathered enough evidence to prove that last week’s elections were manipulated to prevent the party from securing above 45% of the vote in the province.
By Willem Phungula
DURBAN – The uMkhonto weSizwe Party (MKP) in KwaZulu-Natal says it has gathered enough evidence to prove that last week’s elections were manipulated to prevent the party from securing above 45% of the vote in the province.
The party said this was done to allow for a DA and ANC coalition nationally, which could the filter through the provinces. The MKP has since rejected the results and demanded a manual recount.
The MKP had warned the electoral body, saying it would be a provocation if the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) were to declare the results free and fair despite objections.
A senior member of the party, Phumlani Mfeka, who also heads the socio-political pan-Africanist group Injeje yabeNguni, said the party had obtained enough information on vote rigging to back up its claims.
He said in the uThukela district in the north-west of KZN, the MKP did not appear in the results at all, despite many people voting for the party. It was practically impossible to find a polling station, let alone a district, without a single vote for the MKP, he said.
The party also shared with the DFA’s sister publication the Daily News several ballot paper slips from the Ugu (South Coast) and King Cetshwayo districts (North Coast) which it said were either not uploaded in the IEC results board or numbers of the party were altered.
“We have evidence to prove that the elections were rigged. We have results slips from voting stations where the MKP did well but which were not sent to the results centre to be tallied, so we were clearly robbed,” Mfeka said.
The party said it was aware that the plan was to ensure that the MKP did not secure more than 45% of the vote in KZN, to force coalitions that would leave it out. Mfeka also named two IEC officials who he said were behind the rigging of votes.
The MKP’s claims were backed by the Education Union of South Africa (Eusa), which called for IEC commissioners to be jailed for treason, incitement of violence and destabilising the state, in a statement issued by the union on Saturday.
“Eusa wishes to thank all the teachers, workers, lecturers, students, unemployed citizens, and ordinary South Africans for adhering to our call to vote (for the) MK Party as a vehicle for change.
“We remain 100% behind the MK Party to marshal all citizens to prosperity and development. The country is on the verge of chaos and despair due to the IEC’s failure to conduct an honest and transparent process of the counting and capturing of votes.
“Eusa objects to a biased IEC that is manipulating all election processes to favour the ANC at the expense of other political parties. Evidence in possession of party agencies and the media suggests that an act of treason has been committed.
“These pieces of evidence need independent forensic investigation to test the truthfulness and material facts. It can never be that the people’s decision is replaced by criminal manipulation to doctor the results of the election,” the statement reads.
The union said it supported the MKP’s call for a manual recounting and reconciling of each VD result while a swift investigation was being undertaken.
On social media, people were questioning why the MKP had been static at 44% since Thursday and said they suspected foul play by the IEC.
The IEC provincial spokesperson, Thabani Ngwira, said all grievances were to be addressed by the provincial election head, Ntombifuthi Masinga, when she declared the results on Sunday night.
The ANC provincial secretary dismissed MKP’s claims, saying they were making excuses after realising that their imaginary two-thirds majority could not be reached.
In response to MKP threats of violence, ministers in the security cluster on Sunday announced that all state law enforcement agencies were combat-ready to quell any form of violence.
