Independent candidate Anele Muda has accused the Electoral Commission of treating independent candidates unfairly, claiming that the commission was ill-prepared and did not have a proper system in place to accommodate independent candidates.
Mda briefed the media in Johannesburg, where she campaigned in Gauteng and won 3,725 votes in the parliamentary elections.
She says the IEC was ill-equipped to deal with independent candidates during the elections, and she claims the Election Commission was unresponsive in its communications and overlooked issues that could have been easily avoided.
“There is no reason why the IEC did not have a structure equivalent to the PLC, especially for independent candidates. There is no reason why the IEC included independent candidates in the PLC structure. You are dealing with people who have their own interests, people who have not even had an unprecedented experience and can say this has happened before. As independent candidates we had no access to the IEC. Our issues had no ears to be heard,” Mda said.
Mda has made clear his support for other independent candidates and says he will continue to push for reforms.
“It's time we recognise that independent candidates exist and we will not be silenced or marginalised by party politics and bureaucratic red tape,” she said.
On the topic of forming a coalition, Muda said he had been approached by various parties, but would take his time to make a decision as he wanted to ensure it aligned with his beliefs.
Video: 2024 Elections – Anele Muda reflects on his performance:
