Election workers fear that the postponement of the KwaZulu-Natal elections is a recipe for chaos, writes Ann Eveleth
KWAZULU-NATAL’S elections are still in jeopardy despite a unanimous central government decision this week postponing the polls by one month.
Inkatha Freedom Party local government MEC Peter Miller’s warning the delay would create enormous logistical problems was seconded by independent election workers who say the decision was a recipe for “chaos”.
African National Congress MP and local government spokesman Mike Sutcliffe dismissed the criticism, arguing that IFP leader Mangosuthu Buthelezi had sanctioned the decision and the delay would allow time to repair “fraudulent voters rolls and for candidates whose names disappeared from the voters roll to re-register”.
Election workers in Durban, however, warned the delay was itself “a serious threat to elections”: They say one month was insufficient to re-open voters rolls and complete the subsequent court certification process in time for the poll.
In addition, election preparations were already in place for May 29 and polling stations would be difficult to reschedule with pupils expected to sit examinations at schools which make up 90% of polling stations. Ballot papers would have to be reprinted, to reflect new candidates and the new date.
Hundreds of election workers –including many professionals who had taken time off work for the May poll — would have to be reorganised, and costs would increase sharply as venues and equipment would have to be re-booked: “We have already rented containers to hold equipment for each polling station. The containers cost R10 per day and we have about 600 of them. Who is going to carry that cost?” asked one election worker. “What people don’t realise is that fraud goes along with chaos. They have just introduced chaos into this election.”
The “vague” new election date — on or before June 26 — was also criticised by election workers who said they were unable to begin making new arrangements until a definite date was set: “There is no way these elections will take place in one month.
“In Durban, even a three-month delay would cause problems. This is the third delay we have had and people are fed-up.”
ANC provincial leaders say the special Cabinet meeting where the decision was taken said the one-month postponement was the result of heavy negotiation between the ANC — which wanted a three-month delay — and the IFP which wanted the poll to proceed as planned. The National Party had apparently proposed a 20-day delay and this was eventually upped to 28 days.
Multi-party accolades about the unanimity of the decision, however — similar to that expressed when the province’s swiss cheese- like constitution finally received the backing of all seven political parties in the provincial legislature — masks the important issues left unresolved.
All parties concede the delay will provide few solutions to the underlying problem plaguing prospects for free and fair elections: political violence.
The death of at least seven candidates in the past two months, the widespread existence of “no-go” areas for all political parties, the KwaMashu attack on the royal palace and the shooting chaos which erupted in central Durban last weekend during a march by thousands of IFP supporters underline the volatility of the province which has been left behind.
While KwaZulu-Natal SAPS Commissioner Chris Serfontein has argued the security forces are ready and able to secure a climate of stability in the province sufficient for polls to proceed, their overwhelming unpreparedness for last Saturday’s mayhem did little to bolster such confidence.
Thousands of IFP supporters were allowed to march through the city centre armed with “cultural” and other weapons in blatant contravention of the ban on the carrying of such weapons.
SAPS Director Steve van Sittert, who was responsible for security in Durban during the march, said before the march he had “between 40 and 50” officers stationed around the city — a pittance given the circumstances.
Asked why no attempts were made to disarm the marchers, Van Sittert said his priority was to “manage the crowd and then open a docket against the organisers”.
While IFP leaders promptly disassociated the party from the fiasco, the bold leadership of the illegal march by IFP MP Thomas Shabalala belied the claim the marchers were mere “hostel residents”.
The Durban march, the third by IFP supporters in open defiance of the act banning the carrying of dangerous weapons, underlines the impunity with which the party’s leaders are allowed to act by the province’s security forces.
SAPS Director Bala Naidoo said neither the march violence — in which three policemen were injured — nor last week’s march by hundreds of armed KwaMashu hostel residents on the local police station to demand the release of suspects arrested in connection with the attack on the royal residence — had affected the security plan for the elections: “No, nothing has changed. We have already started our pre-election phase which will now be postponed because of the new date, but we will resume it later with 600 extra policemen. Then our election phase and post-election phase will continue as planned,” he said.
For the IFP, the weekend events will not have done its campaign to woo crucial minority voters much good. White and Indian voters who witnessed Saturday’s events are unlikely to be attracted to the party whose supporters sent them scurrying for cover in their shops and homes.
The involvement of warlords like Shabalala will be a continuous headache for IFP secretary general Ziba Jiyane, who has tried to disempower warlords in the party’s leadership.
His failure to have Shabalala suspended from the party’s national council, however, points to the continued dominance of military interests over political ones in the party’s leadership.
The ANC’s task will be to maximise the political benefits of this reality and turn the recent events into votes. Attempts to mobilise its fragmented structures through mass action have now been reduced to a handful of prayer meetings and small marches in an effort to avoid conflict. With little hope of resolving violence in time for the poll, the ANC has to quickly answer the key question being asked by its supporters: “Why should we lay down our lives for the ANC?”