Durban - As political parties gear up for the local government elections next year, Mangosuthu Buthelezi’s main worry is the conduct of the Independent Electoral Commission.
The IFP leader said the IEC had previously “robbed” his party in favour of the ruling party, the ANC.
In an exclusive interview with The Mercury, Buthelezi said since the dawn of democracy, South Africa had never had free and fair elections. He blamed this on the inclusion of members of the South African Democratic Teachers Union (Sadtu) as electoral officials.
“The corruption everyone is talking about has ramifications, even for our electoral activities in this country.
“From 1994 some boxes with our votes, with IFP voters, were thrown ‘all over the valley’,” he said.
He recounted a number of incidents, which he said were proof that the involvement of Sadtu had compromised the IEC’s credibility and led to opposition parties crying foul. He said the 2013 by-election at Ward 11 in Nongoma was a case in point.
The IEC had had not counted a special vote ballot box with 20 ballot papers, said Buthelezi, which had led to the IFP losing the ward.
IFP provincial leader Blessed Gwala took the matter to the IEC, which acknowledged that it was wrong not to add those votes. The Electoral Court later ordered that the special votes also be counted, which led to the IFP’s winning back the ward.
“The person in charge was a member of Sadtu,” Buthelezi said.
IEC provincial spokesman Thabani Ngwiri said the commission did not look at union membership when employing teachers to help conduct elections. He said teachers were employed because it was convenient for the commission.
“We don’t even look at which union the teachers belong to. We employ teachers because they are familiar with the schools used as voting stations. They are the ones who carry school keys, they know where toilets are, and if the electricity main switch trips they know where to find it,” he said.
Buthelezi said he knew of cases in which people had been taken from neighbouring countries to vote.
“There are even allegations that people were bused in from Transkei at one time and also from Mozambique and so on. That is the biggest challenge I see.
“If it is a fair fight I really don’t mind. I have been in the game for a long time.
“The fact that we are not playing the game according to the rules is my biggest concern,” he said.
However, he hoped the new IEC chairman, Glenton Mashinini, would behave differently from his predecessor Pansy Tlakula.
Buthelezi said that although the IFP had not gone out to recruit troubled National Freedom Party members, the NFP leadership fell apart after its leader, Zanele kaMagwaza-Msibi, went on indefinite leave late last year.
“Its members are already coming back to join us. We have no plan to recruit them.”
Ngwiri said the date for the elections would be announced early next year.
The Mercury
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