Allegations of political violence and vote rigging continued in KwaZulu-Natal on Thursday morning.
Incidents included the shooting of a Democratic Alliance councillor, security forces evacuating African National Congress party agents, and the Inkatha Freedom Party laying another complaint of irregularities with election authorities.
A DA councillor and his wife were shot and wounded in the Folweni area on the South Coast early on Thursday in what the party believes may be political violence.
The DA caucus leader in the Durban Metro council, Lyn Ploos van Amstel, said Vumani Mbambo (55) was in a stable condition in hospital after being shot in both legs. His wife Doris was shot in one leg and would undergo surgery later to have a bullet removed.
She said Mbambo had been dropping party agents off at their houses around midnight when a number of gunmen opened fire on his car near his home. Mbambo, the sole DA councillor in the area, has received death threats in the past.
In Ulundi, about 30 ANC party agents were evacuated by security forces after they were threatened by people wielding traditional weapons and firearms, said ANC provincial security spokesperson Bheki Cele.
He said the intimidation occurred at voting stations throughout the northern rural KwaZulu-Natal town when they closed after 9pm. Cele said police took the agents to a central point in the town and they were then taken to their hotel around 3am.
Police spokesperson Director Bala Naidoo confirmed that reserve forces of the SA Police Service and the SA National Defence Force were called into the town.
He said party agents were threatened and the security forces were monitoring the situation.
The IFP reported that it had laid a charge of corruption against an Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) officer in Inanda, north of Durban, because she was allegedly found in possession of registration stickers on Wednesday.
IFP provincial spokesperson Blessed Gwala said the officer had claimed that the stickers were given to her by the IEC on Wednesday morning.
The party had also lodged a complaint about the matter with the IEC.
On Wednesday, the IFP lodged another complaint with election authorities accusing its main rival in the province, the ANC, of pasting voter registration stickers into the identity books of voters at the SJ Smith Hostel in Durban.
However, the IEC said it had been established that the 107 stickers were for people who had registered for elections and they would have been able to cast their ballots because their names on the voters’ roll. – Sapa