African National Congress (ANC) president Jacob Zuma and Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) president Mangosuthu Buthelezi on Saturday encouraged people to take part in the upcoming elections.
Both leaders, who visited a number of voting stations in KwaZulu-Natal during the Independent Electoral Commission’s (IEC) voter-registration drive, said they hoped there would be no voter apathy during the upcoming elections.
Zuma visited the polling station in Nkandla, where he will cast his vote, and Buthelezi visited stations in Umlazi and KwaMashu outside Durban.
Speaking in Umlazi, Buthelezi said he had decided to encourage people to vote to ensure that there was no voter apathy.
”I decided to do this because of the voter apathy that I saw when I was still the minister of home affairs. We all know that there were 11-million eligible voters who did not vote during the last elections. We want to make sure that they all register to vote,” said Buthelezi.
IEC chief in KwaZulu-Natal Mawethu Mosery said the voter-registration drive in the province was going smoothly.
Earlier, the IFP accused the IEC of deliberately removing its members from the voters’ roll, mainly in its strongholds.
IFP national chairperson Zanele Magwaza said she had received numerous calls from IFP members who complained that their names did not appear on the voters’ roll despite having voted since 1994.
”We believe that there are shenanigans at the IEC.”
”We know that there are ANC elements at the IEC, therefore we find it hard to believe why people who have been voting since 1994 can be removed from the voters’ roll.”
She encouraged IFP supporters to go and check whether their names had not been removed.
Mosery, however, dismissed the claim, saying there was no way IFP supporters would be singled out and removed from the roll.
”I challenge the IFP to bring all the people they are talking about to me. If it is true, we will investigate the reasons why they were removed.” — Sapa