Azapo worried about calibre of polling station overseers
THE Azanian People’s Organisation (Azapo) said the upcoming general elections would be the most contested elections in the country’s democratic dispensation and with the stakes high, one was likely to witness attempts at cheating and underhanded behaviour displayed to influence the election process and outcome.
The organisation raised its concerns ,particularly over the teachers’ union, affiliated to the governing party.
“We are particularly concerned about the auxiliary staff that the Electoral Commission of South Africa will be employing and urge that an opportunity should be given to the unemployed graduates and matriculants instead of employing groups like Sadtu or Cosatu affiliates, which are known to be partisan.
“(Former president Jacob) Zuma and his group have been in the thick of things and know some of the tricks employed, so their apprehensions are taken note of but should not be used to hype emotions and ferment violence.
“Azapo is registered on the national ballot as well as the regional to national ballot,” the party’s spokesperson Jabu Rakwena said yesterday.
Rakwena’s comments come after Zuma’d warning of a possible rigging of the elections this year.
During his address outside the Durban High Court, Zuma urged his party agents to be extra vigilant during the exercising of special votes, as it was believed that these could be stolen.
ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula slammed its former leaders for suggesting the elections would be rigged.
Mbalula said the utterances were attempts to delegitimise the elections, adding this could give rise to unrest.
“The ANC categorically rejects any dangerous suggestions that our electoral system can and will be manipulated. The IEC is one of the most trusted public institutions,” he said.
“The entire voting and counting processes are monitored by party agents from all competing parties,” Mbalula said.
Rakwena told the Cape Argus’s sister paper, The Star, that Azapo would be contesting only in three provinces.
“We managed to register for three provinces: Gauteng, Eastern Cape and Limpopo. However, I received reports that our registration in Limpopo could not satisfy the signature threshold as many of our signatures there were invalid due to not appearing on the voters roll. Apparently, we fell short of 80 signatures,” Rakwena said.
He further said that their leadership would meet tomorrow, where the executive would be briefed on what took place, and why the organisation failed to comply with the commisson’s regulations, specifically in Limpopo.
“We are meeting on Wednesday to receive a full report and update,” he said.