Abaqulusi by-election postponed
Probe into claim of irregularities
THE Electoral Court last night postponed the by-election which was due to be held in Abaqulusi (Vryheid) Municipality’s Ward 22 after claims of widespread irregularities in the registration of voters.
In a classic case of David versus Goliath, former ANC councillor, Andre Lotter, who represented himself in court, took the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) to court claiming the commission had deliberately ignored electoral fraud pertaining to the registration of voters in the ward.
He said more than 2 000 voters had been bussed into the ward by arch rivals, the IFP and the ANC.
In his judgment, Electoral Court Judge Kenneth Mthiyane ordered the commission not only to postpone the election but to conduct an investigation into these allegations of electoral fraud.
There had been a dramatic increase in the number of people registered to vote in the ward. During the last local government elections in 2011, there were only 3 700 people registered to vote, but the figure shot up to more than 6 100 before the contested by-election.
Lotter, who approached the Electoral Court last week, said that was a huge anomaly because he expected that even fewer people would be registered for the by-election as was normally the trend and because some people had relocated from the ward to a nearby housing development in another ward.
He told the Electoral Court, sitting at the Durban High Court yesterday, that he had personally spoken to people who had been bussed in from other wards. “I was working like an undercover agent,” he told the court.
Lotter also took on the ANC and the IFP, saying he wanted the two parties to be penalised for their role in the fraudulent registration of voters.
He wanted these parties to be disqualified from taking part in the by-elections.
Mthiyane ordered not only that the election should be postponed but that the IEC should conduct an investigation into the alleged irregularities.
But in its responding affidavit, the IEC had dismissed these claims, saying its staff had looked at the addresses of the people who had registered to vote and were satisfied that they fell within Ward 22.
Registration
“The law does not provide for any other supplementary documentation other than one’s identity document to be submitted when applying for registration. For the electoral commission to impose other conditions other than those as required by law would be unlawful,” the IEC said.
The IEC admitted, however, that there has been an increase in the number of registered voters in the ward but said it had also conducted an in loco inspection to establish whether the potential voters did, in fact, reside at the addresses provided.
While it explained the fact that some voters were not found in their homes during that inspection, the commission said it should be noted that the inspection had been unscheduled and had occurred during a working day.
The commission argued that to remove such voters from the voters roll would amount to denying them their right to vote.
The ANC opposed Lotter’s application, saying he should have first lodged an objection with the IEC in terms of the Electoral Act. Only after not getting any joy from that process should Lotter have approached the Electoral Court, argued advocate Adrian Rall, SC, representing the ANC.
The ANC opposed the postponement of the by-election, saying so much work had gone into the preparations.
The IFP, surprisingly, supported the application that the by-election be postponed for 90 days. The party’s counsel, advocate Mark Oliff said the IFP believed the election should be postponed to allow the IEC to conduct a thorough investigation into allegations of electoral fraud.
Oliff said the voters roll was the cornerstone of any election and played a huge part in whether an election can be perceived to be free and fair.
The ward councillor position became vacant after Lotter resigned from the ANC citing infighting among other things.
The court also ordered that Lotter be admitted as a candidate in the election. He had been disqualified by the IEC after he failed to provide a bank guaranteed cheque by the cutoff date for applications.
In a statement released after the judgment, the IEC said it would “advise further on the filling of this vacancy”.
Lotter said: “I’m really very happy with the outcome of today’s court proceedings. But it’s only the first stage won. Now the IEC must investigate the organised electoral crimes that were committed here in my former ward, and bring the guilty parties to book.”