irregularities
Ivor Powell
Election observers and monitors have reported more than 30 electoral irregularities in KwaZulu-Natal, ranging from likely political murder to multiple voting in some areas.
The incidents occurred despite the presence of intimidating contingents of security forces personnel to guarantee stability at nearly every voting station in the province.
While the disruptions recorded are unlikely to have significantly affected the overall result, they are sufficient to establish that, in pockets of the area at least, political intolerance still exists in South Africa’s most volatile province.
Police representatives have followed the lead of Minister of Safety and Security Sydney Mufamadi in declaring that the June 2 elections were free of politically motivated violence. Instances of violence have been attributed to criminal rather than political motivations, and proceedings on election day were commended for the relative absence of irregularities.
However, the Mail & Guardian has learnt that the victim in one election-period killing – at Mangete in the Makhabini tribal authority last Sunday – had been putting up African National Congress election posters when she was threatened by political rivals. The murderers have been identified in eyewitness affidavits as supporters of a rival political party.
Independent election monitors have also questioned police denials of political motive in relation to other killings around the elections.
Instances were reported – and have been confirmed by police -where people voted two and even three times.
At the KwaMadala Tribal Court (a polling station dominated by the Inkatha Freedom Party) security forces personnel informed monitors of irregularities that were in progress and asked them to investigate further.
Further investigations revealed irregularities were also taking place at the adjacent voting station, which had been set up to accommodate the ANC constituency in an attempt to avoid conflict between the two parties in the volatile KwaMadala area.
Outside Richards Bay, observers were called in after ANC party agents complained about the presence of 23 dubious and unsealed ballot boxes.
In ANC-dominated Lamontville official eyebrows were raised when it was discovered that no fewer than 13 000 votes had been tallied where only 6 000 voters were registered.
KwaMashu hostel saw the arrival in voting queues of large numbers of rural voters not registered at the voting station.
At Ubonjeni in northern KwaZulu-Natal ballot boxes were delivered unsealed to polling stations after the local presiding officer took them home.
Meanwhile a number of polling stations were left temporarily unattended, or without representatives of parties in place to ensure freeness and fairness. This at least raises the spectre of fraudulent practices, particularly in view of the fact that many stations were not in a position to check voter registration against ID document barcodes as initially demanded by the Independent Electoral Commission.
One such incident was recorded at Inanda where voting was temporarily disrupted when armed men arrived at one of the polling stations.
In Bulwer at Zashuke High School voting station, ANC party agents were reportedly threatened with physical harm, and as a result, the agents have claimed, they were ordered by the presiding officer to leave the premises to preserve the peace.
At other voting stations, attempts were allegedly made to evict party agents from rival parties when election counting was in progress.
At numerous stations in rural areas of the north coast, especially around St Lucia and Mtubatuba, no more than a single police officer was present to guarantee voter safety and prevent intimidation.