By Luleka Damane
The new Cape Party has accused rival political parties of hacking into its website.
The party's leader, Jack Miller, said only political parties that had the money and the equipment would be able to hack into the system.
According to Miller, the party's website showed an image of a "black devil" telling the party to f*** off.
He said he could not understand how anyone could hack into the system, as the Cape Party had acquired one of the most advanced security systems to protect it from hackers.
"Our website has been running for many months, and for this to happen now is just too much of a coincidence because it is only happening a week before the by-elections in Mitchells Plain next week," Miller said.
However, he said the party's technical staff would remove the offensive material and restore the website to normal.
The party was formed last May 22 and started off with just 10 members.
But at this stage, said Miller, there were at least 1 000 people who were registered with the party.
Miller said he had reported the website hacking matter to the Claremont police station on Sunday and it was now under investigation.
The station's police spokeswoman, Captain Angie Latchman, confirmed that the matter had been reported to the station by the Cape Party.
"The charge is computer fraud," Latchman said.
She said the case was now under investigation by the Western Cape Commercial Unit.