/ 12 June 2009

KZN official’s electoral fraud trial unprecedented

Sindisiwe Mncube, an Ulundi IEC official, has become the first South African since the 1994 democratic elections to go on trial for electoral fraud.

Sindisiwe Mncube, an Ulundi Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) official, has become the first South African since the 1994 democratic elections to go on trial for electoral fraud.

If the court finds her guilty, she will also be the first person to be convicted of such a crime.

The trial will enter its third day on Saturday in the Esikhawini Magistrate’s Court near Empangeni on the north coast.

Mncube faces five charges of forgery and violating the Electoral Code.

She was allegedly found with ballot papers marked in favour of the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) before the official opening time of the voting station in Ulundi where she was employed as a presiding officer.

KwaZulu-Natal chief electoral officer Mawethu Mosery said cases similar to Mncube’s had happened before the democratic dispensation.

While Mncube’s case had not generated huge interest among journalists, African National Congress (ANC) supporters have been following it from the day it started.

The party would again picket outside the court, said ANC provincial secretary Sihle Zikalala.

”As the ANC, we want to ensure that justice is served in this case and to ensure that future elections are rid of fraudulent activities,” he said.

His party was concerned with the links she had with the IFP and that she was represented by Robert Sibiya, the speaker of the IFP-controlled Ulundi Municipality.

”Sibiya is also currently representing the illegal Umlaba Camp military wing aligned to the IFP,” said Zikalala.

”The IFP must come out clean as to whether it sanctioned the illegal and fraudulent activities of Mncube during the elections,” he said.

IFP national organiser Albert Mncwango was not immediately available to comment. — Sapa