IEC slams WCape parties for voter intimidation

Western Cape electoral officer Courtney Sampson slammed political parties in the Western Cape for the behaviour of their members.

Cape Town - Political parties in the Western Cape are falling foul of IEC officials who say they are “out of hand, out of control and people are pushing boundaries”.

Western Cape electoral officer Courtney Sampson slammed political parties for the behaviour of their members after several complaints were lodged over voters being intimidated.

The EFF, ANC and several smaller parties, including the Independent Civic Organisation of South Africa (Icosa) accused the DA of breaking the rules which prevent parties from campaigning inside voting precincts and that their elections volunteers were harassing voters and preventing them from voting.

In Athlone, volunteers from Icosa and the Democratic Independent Party (DI) said DA volunteers had pulled voters out of queues in Pliny street.

Icosa's Zuriena Stellenboom said the DA has “blatantly ignored the rules”.

“We’ve been watching them operating this morning and they are not even hiding it,” Stellenboom said.

Angela Jassman from the DI said the DA was not acting in the “spirit of elections”.

“It’s unacceptable that they are getting away with this,” she said.

The provincial secretary of the ANC in the Western Cape, Faiez Jacobs, had similar concerns.

“Complaints and objections were lodged in Mitchells Plain (Ward 82) where it was reported that DA members, workers and supporters intimidated and prevented voters from voting.”

Jacobs said in some areas polling stations ran out of ballot papers.

“The undemocratic action by the DA is reprehensible. It cannot be tolerated in our democracy that a party commits by signing a code of conduct, but fails to seem to be bound or allow supporters to get away with such actions.”

Sampson has lobbied for stricter laws around party activities and campaigning on election day, saying the current laws were too weak.

“I believe there is a loss of respect for people and South Africans in general. Election day should belong to the voters. This issue should become a serious discussion in the country,” he said.

Sampson said the first democratic elections in 1994 was a peace-making mechanism and there was an urgent need to “recapture the dignity of our election”.

“We are getting complaints about people being pulled from the queues, and then there are complaints from politicians that police are harassing them. This is ridiculous that we, as an election body, have got to manage the behaviour of adults on election day when we should be handling the logistical arrangements of the elections.”

Despite these hiccups, Sampson said the elections were running smoothly across the Western Cape.

warda.meyer@inl.co.za

Elections Bureau