The Inkatha Freedom Party did not breach election regulations by handing out stationery with its logo to schools in the Zululand region, the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) said on Friday.
”What is at stake is whether the party was in breach of the Department of Education’s regulations and policies,” said the IEC’s KwaZulu-Natal spokesperson, Mathewu Mosery.
”There is no prescription on where and how parties should campaign. We advocate free access to voters,” said Mosery.
Provincial education minister Ina Cronje last weekend visited two schools that had received IFP stationery and called for a departmental investigation into the matter.
”Schools are supposed to be neutral territory,” said Cronje’s spokesperson Christi Naude. She said Cronje wanted to know how and why the IFP books got into the schools.
IFP spokesperson Musa Zondi was in a general council meeting on Friday and could not comment on the issue.
Chris Ntuli, spokesperson for the South African Democratic Students’ Movement — the student wing of the IFP — said it had also distributed IFP stationery at the University of Zululand.
”There’s nothing wrong with that because if Coca-Cola hands out goods, the company’s logo is always on it, and Kaizer Chiefs have the name of their sponsor, Vodacom, on their shirts,” Ntuli said.
The South African Democratic Teachers’ Union (Sadtu) has accused the IFP of ”politicising” education.
”If they are the good Samaritans, why did they have to put their logo on the books? If you are donating to the poor, why do you need to be recognised?” questioned Sadtu’s provincial secretary, KK Nkosi. — Sapa