MK Party tells supporters to take case numbers to SAPS and appeals to the IEC

The uMkhonto weSizwe Party has told its supporters to go to the police when they face threats, violence or criminal activity, and to keep the case number they are given. In the same post on its official X account on 4 November, the party told voters with unresolved electoral matters to submit formal appeals within the Independent Electoral Commission’s deadlines.

The post reads in full: “When faced with threats, violence or criminal activity, alert SAPS immediately and keep your case number. For unresolved electoral matters, ensure formal appeals are submitted within the IEC’s deadlines. Act promptly! Report responsibly! Protect the integrity of the vote!” It carries the party’s #MKP hashtag and one photograph.

The instruction is procedural rather than accusatory. The party does not say in the post where threats or violence have occurred, who is responsible, or which electoral matters remain unresolved. No province, municipality, voting station or individual is named, and no case is cited. The party’s stated concern is the integrity of the vote, and its advice routes both criminal complaints and electoral disputes into the formal channels that exist for them, the South African Police Service and the IEC.

Keeping a case number is the step that lets a complainant follow a docket after it is opened, and the IEC’s deadlines for objections and appeals are fixed points in the electoral calendar. The party’s emphasis on acting promptly points at those deadlines rather than at any action it says it will take itself.

The post does not say whether the party is handling complaints on its own or directing supporters to the authorities alone, and it gives no date by which supporters should act beyond the commission’s own timetable. The Enquirer has not established what prompted the statement.