ANC volunteers and IEC officers clash

April 22 2009 at 02:46PM

Election officers and ANC volunteers squabbled outside a voting station in Scenery Parks outside East London on Wednesday.

They clashed at Zwelemfundo Primary School after the volunteers had been seen telling people who to vote for. The volunteers had set up a table outside the polling station, where they had a copy of the voter's roll and a specimen ballot paper.

Some volunteers were telling people, particularly the elderly and illiterate, to vote for the African National Congress.

An ANC volunteer was seen showing one elderly woman where to make her cross. She had gone to enquire about the voting procedure at the ANC table when she was told: "Don't worry mama, vote for the party you have always been voting for. Just write an X next to this face.
Continues Below ↓

"If you have forgotten the face, just tell the IEC officials inside there that you want to vote for the party whose logo has a wheel and spear," said the volunteer, pointing at ANC President Jacob Zuma's face on the specimen ballot paper.

When questioned by the IEC's area manager and the station's presiding officer in the presence of the police, the volunteers denied telling people to vote for the ANC.

They told the officials and the media to bring them the people they had told who to vote for. The officials could not do so since they had already left.

A heated argument ensued as the ANC volunteers, who were joined by Cosatu members, demanded that the IEC officials go back into the voting station, saying they had no authority outside the station's premises.

"You are disturbing us here. You should be worrying about what is happening in there and stop harassing us," said a SA Democratic Teachers' Union regional leader.

The volunteers said they got the specimen ballot paper and had been "instructed" to work there by their superiors, who they refused to name.

The IEC's area manager, Mathemba Fakidolo, told them that it was the officials' duty to investigate all complaints and ensure that voters were not intimidated, even outside the polling station.

"It is wrong for political parties to tell people who to vote for," said Fakidolo.

He phoned the IEC's regional office, which promised to visit the station and investigate the matter soon. No other similar incidents were reported to the IEC in the area. - Sapa

•  Email Story       •  Print Story       •  Search IOL       •  Newsletter