The African National Congress in Gauteng on Wednesday lodged a formal complaint with the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC), accusing Inkatha Freedom Party leaders of obstructing it from campaigning for the upcoming election.
The formal complaint, which includes detailed affidavits, outlines incidents during which ANC members were disrupted while canvassing for the election, especially at the hostels, party provincial secretary David Makhura said at a media conference in Johannesburg.
IFP spokesperson Musa Zondi said his party would wait for the IEC to approach it on the matter.
”I cannot comment because the ANC took a legal route and the matter is now with electoral court,” Zondi said.
The allegations include an incident in which Deputy President Jacob Zuma was forced to negotiate with Soweto hostel dwellers in order to enter Dube hostel at the weekend.
Firoz Cachalia, head of the ANC’s legal and monitoring team, said: ”The ANC is confident that there is a consistent pattern from IFP to stop ANC from canvassing.”
His statement was backed up by Makhura, who said IFP supporters were ”hell-bent” on obstructing free political activity, instigating violence and creating no-go areas within Gauteng. He threatened to approach the courts should the IFP and IEC fail to satisfactorily address the complaint.
”This is not the first time we have reported these incidents to the IEC. We call on the IEC to take immediate and decisive action against any party that is in violation of the Electoral Act and the code of conduct that all parties signed and pledged to adhere to.”
Makhura claimed IFP supporters had been involved in incidents of violent behaviour in areas like Zonkesizwe, Vlakfontein, Lawley, Soweto and hostels in Daveyton, Jabulani, Jeppe and George Gogh.
The areas are known to be IFP strongholds.
The ANC had requested a meeting with the IFP, but was still waiting for a response.
Makhura said the ANC had, while campaigning at the weekend, come across ”specific IFP individuals who cowered under indunas and tried to prevent ANC leadership from entering the hostels”.
”We are convinced that there are organised individuals within IFP trying to stop [the] ANC from canvassing. The IFP has signed the election code of conduct and it cannot obstruct the rule of law,” he said.
The ANC submitted affidavits from supporters detailing violent incidents during which they were confronted by IFP members. Some of these go back to September. The affidavits contain the names of the IFP members who allegedly attacked the ANC supporters and some put IFP leaders at the helm of attacks.
Makhura said: ”It is not enough for IFP leadership to say they support free and fair elections, but we want to see them on the ground educating their supporters”.
”We want to see IFP on the ground talking to these elements who are prepared to stop our members from doing their job.”
The ANC would go back to the hostels and would not be stopped from campaigning anywhere in South Africa.
”IFP leadership and its structure are involved in this pattern. They are also using indunas to stop us from entering the areas. ANC members are not allowed to campaign at some of the hostels. We are condemning this behaviour,” Makhura said.
Meanwhile, the ANC in KwaZulu-Natal has asked police stationed in the Durban suburbs of Hillcrest and Pinetown to watch out for ”debased perpetrators” responsible for destroying and defacing its election posters in these areas.
In a statement on Wednesday, the party condemned ”the blatant intolerance against the ANC and its democratic right to campaign for the elections, now even in certain white suburbs in eThekwini (Durban)”.
For two successive weekends in the Democratic Alliance wards of Kloof and Hillcrest, ANC posters, particularly those bearing President Thabo Mbeki’s face, had been badly defaced or destroyed, it said.
”This disgusting display of political intolerance in the so-called elite, white DA suburbs of eThekwini is alarming, and completely violates the process of free and fair elections.
”The ANC has requested the local SAPS stations in Hillcrest and Pinetown to monitor the activity in these suburbs, with a view to catching the debased perpetrators of this crime,” the statement said. – Sapa