Group challenges Madibeng election results and calls for investigation
By the AFREEQUE newsroom, based on IOL
Forum for South Africa (FORUM4SA) rejects the local election results in Madibeng municipality, in the north of the country, and calls for an investigation by the Independent Electoral Commission into wards 4 and 38. The organisation says it filed a complaint before the deadline and is awaiting a response from the commission, which received more than 800 complaints, according to IOL.
Forum for South Africa (FORUM4SA), a social justice collective, rejects the credibility of the local election results in Madibeng municipality, in North West province, and calls for an investigation into polling stations in wards 4 and 38. Its president, Tshepo Mashilompane, announced the position on Monday, the day after the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) announced the results, South African media outlet IOL reports.
The collective filed its complaints before the deadline set by the IEC for Friday at 5pm and is still awaiting a response, according to Mashilompane. In ward 4, won by the South African Communist Party (SACP) with 37.32% of the vote, FORUM4SA claims that the deputy presiding officer was affiliated with a political party and that its agent was expelled from the polling station after raising objections. In ward 38, won by the African National Congress (ANC) with 58.2%, the collective alleges different treatment of spoiled ballots: ballots in its favour marked with a cross above the party’s name were reportedly rejected, while ANC ballots marked in the same way were counted.
Across Madibeng, the ANC came first with 41.53% of the vote, ahead of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF, 15.68%) and the Democratic Alliance (DA, 14.97%). The municipality is among more than 100 local authorities without an outright majority that will have to be governed by coalitions. The IEC says it received more than 800 complaints from political parties, mainly concerning the conduct of presiding officers. Mashilompane also acknowledges that the collective’s agents deployed at polling stations were young and inexperienced.
This challenge adds to other complaints filed after the local elections. On 9 November, the ANC challenged its 23.9% result in Emfuleni in court, while late objections could change local results in KwaZulu-Natal.
