Pretoria - The Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) had to date received 12 complaints regarding political parties that had violated the code of conduct, it said on Wednesday.
Of these complaints, two were withdrawn due to lack of evidence, IEC head Mosotho Moepya told journalist in Centurion.
The remaining complaints were being investigated by the newly-established Directorate of Electoral Offences.
“The nature of the complaints varies between allegations of intimidation and political violence, incitement, along with advertising and poster regulations, and allegations of use of state resources in campaigning,” Moepya said.
The political parties which have lodged complaints are the DA, EFF, ANC and the PAC.
Others were lodged by independent candidates and one was by a citizen through the Human Rights Commission of South Africa.
Moepya said where possible, these cases would be referred for mediation between parties, but where sufficient evidence of serious violations was found, the matters would be escalated to the Electoral Court. “With 11 days to go until the first votes are cast for the 2016 municipality elections, the IEC is pleased to report that all logistical preparations are on track for these highly anticipated elections,” Moepya said.
He added that they had received more than 740 000 applications for special votes. This was more than three times the number of applications received in the 2011 municipal elections.
Moepya said 719 225 special vote applications had already been approved, which included 315 597 for home visits and 403 628 votes that would be cast at voting stations. The special voting days are August 1 and 2 between 8am and 5pm at the voting stations. “Election officials will visit the addresses provided by voters for the home visits over these two days. They will only visit the address once,” Moepya said.
The rest of the country will cast their votes on August 3 between 7am and 7pm. Moepya is confident the elections would run smoothly in the embattled Tlokwe region, where an arrangement was made for addresses of voters to be obtained.
He said printing of the ballot papers, the most complex logistical exercise in any election, was in full swing and almost completed.
The Eastern Cape, North West and KwaZulu-Natal had already received their ballot papers, with the rest of the provinces expected to get theirs at the weekend.
This, however, raised the question of what would happen to the candidates who had been killed, but were already on the ballot papers. In the past four months 13 ANC members and leaders have been killed in KwaZulu-Natal alone, with two candidates gunned down this week.
“This is not a new phenomenon. We regret in the commission to have situations like that.
“There is a point in terms of the election timetable where we regrettably cannot change.
“We have had situations where persons who are on the roll are deceased and have been voted into office as councillors. In those instances we do have by-elections,” Moepya said.
He condemned the violence taking place in KwaZulu-Natal and Mpumalanga, but said anyone calling for the ANC to be disqualified should know the IEC’s hands were tied.
“The IEC has no power in law to disqualify political parties.
“It is only the Electoral Court that can disqualify a party when a matter is properly brought forward,” Moepya added.
Pretoria News