KZN electoral commission cautions parties against voter harassment
Monday is the official start of the elections, with special votes until Tuesday.
Thabiso Goba
NG KERK voting station in uMhalnga, Durban. Picture: Thabiso Goba/EWN
Thabiso Goba/EWN
KwaZulu-Natal (KZN)'s electoral commission has warned parties that are going to be camping outside voting stations not to harass voters.
Monday is the official start of the elections, with special votes until Tuesday.
KZN has been identified as a major crime hotspot by police, with 165 voting stations having been identified as “High risk”, the most of any province in the country.
KZN's electoral officer, Ntombfuthi Masinga, says the IEC will be working closely with police to ensure no one’s right to vote is infringed upon.
“Just a word of caution on the tables and tents that get put up outside voting stations; that’s for political parties to keep track of who has come and gone so that they can go out and persuade those on the voters roll but haven’t come in to vote. That’s not an official table where every voter has got to be dragged to that table before they go into a voting station, so if anything like that happens, the saps will take care of it.”
Masinga says unruly behaviour outside voting stations will not be tolerated.
“Those are also not tables for people to get drinks and be drunk and start harassing voters before they get into voting stations. If that happens again, the SAPS [South African Police Service) will take care of it.”