Less than a month after the general election, political parties will be fighting a new battle in KwaZulu-Natal on Wednesday with 12 by-elections due to be held in the municipalities of Umzumbe, Umboti, Newcastle, Ufongola, Kwanongoma, Melmoth and Umzimkhulu.
Most of the protests will be held in Umzumbe local municipality on the south coast, which has been in the news due to the resignation of six ANC councillors who joined the MK party after they were expelled from the ANC earlier this year for voting in favour of the IFP in the new mayoral elections.
In the majority of wards, ward councillors have resigned, but in Umzimkhulu a by-election will be held following the death of the ward councillor.
72 polling stations will be opened across all districts. The IEC does not expect any issues with voter management devices.
“There has been a lot of focus on voter education in this by-election, to make sure people understand why they are voting so soon after the general election, to make sure they understand that there is no connection between national or state elections and by-elections, it has nothing to do with the general election. So that's what we've been working on. And we have the system ready. The main event is over and we've launched the system for the local government by-election events and we don't think there will be any issues at all,” he said. [big] “It's a huge amount,” said IEC KZN electoral officer Ntombifuthi Masinga.
The commission has faced criticism and accusations from some political parties of vote rigging in the general election, but says it works closely with police and has not received any threats of disruption.
“Another advantage of by-elections is that they allow for increased capacity because only certain areas are affected, unlike if we had to staff every polling station in the country. So we are very happy with the level of arrangements that SAPS has in place to ensure that the by-elections are conducted safely, and we have not received any reports from our side that there are areas that could disrupt the by-elections in any way. So we are very happy with where we are as a province,” Masinga explained.
Masinga said voters should not be surprised to see the mark on their right thumb as some still have the indelible ink.
