IEC fires KZN presiding officer who hauled ballot material in a party-branded e-hailing car

KwaZulu-Natal’s Electoral Commission has terminated the services of a presiding officer who transported election material in an e-hailing vehicle branded with a political party’s colours and logo.

Provincial Electoral Officer Ntombifuthi Masinga announced the termination at a media briefing on Tuesday, 3 November, giving an update on the second day of special voting ahead of Wednesday’s Local Government Elections.

Masinga said an investigation established that the vehicle belonged to the presiding officer and was being driven by her son when she was seen boarding it with election material.

“The Commission subsequently terminated the services of the presiding officer on the grounds of transporting election material in a vehicle branded with party colours and logo,” Masinga said.

The Commission did not name the presiding officer or the party whose colours and logo appeared on the vehicle.

The same briefing reported attempts by political party supporters to gain access to election material storage facilities, or to deploy private security guards at certain sites.

During the collection and return of election material on Monday night, supporters of one of the contesting parties allegedly forced their way into the precinct housing a satellite storage facility at Dassenhoek Library. The South African Police Service’s Public Order Policing Unit intervened and dispersed the crowd.

The IEC confirmed that no election material was tampered with or compromised.

Similar incidents were reported in Richmond, uMkhambathini and Pietermaritzburg, where political parties allegedly attempted to gain access to storage facilities or deploy their own guards. Police intervened and restored order.

“Such transgressions to the Electoral Code of Conduct are regrettable, given that all contestants have signed to adhere to the Code of Conduct,” Masinga said.

On the count, the Commission reported that 133 931 of the 362 878 approved special votes in the province had been cast, 37% of the total, as of the latest update.

Of the 151 429 approved home visit applications, 68 114, or 45%, had been administered. Of the 211 449 approved voting station visit applications, 65 817, or 31%, had been processed.

Women accounted for 96 639 of the special votes administered, 72.15%, while 37 264, or 27.83%, were cast by men. That left 228 947 approved special votes, 63% of the total, to be administered on Tuesday, the final day of special voting.

The IEC also reported rainy weather in parts of the province, which presented access challenges at some voting stations. These had been addressed and did not prevent stations from opening on time. The Commission urged voters to monitor weather conditions in their areas and take the necessary precautions to reach voting stations safely.

The KZN Commission has declared itself ready for Election Day on Wednesday, 4 November, when voting stations will open from 7am to 9pm.

To vote, a person must be a registered voter and be at least 18 years old on Election Day, and must present a valid green barcoded identity document, Smart ID card or Temporary Identity Certificate. Voters must cast their ballots at the voting station where they are registered.

Voting station details and voters’ roll sequence numbers can be confirmed through WhatsApp on 0600 88 0000, the IEC contact centre on 0800 11 8000, SMS to 32810 at a cost of R1 per message, or the Commission’s website, www.elections.org.za, through its zero-rated Live Chat facility. The Commission said providing election officials with voters’ roll sequence numbers would help speed up locating voters.

This report is drawn from the SAnews (South African Government News Agency) account of the briefing, which summarises the Commission’s statements rather than reproducing the full record. Source: https://www.sanews.gov.za/south-africa/iec-terminates-kzn-presiding-officers-services-over-election-material-transportation