Mpumalanga ward candidate arrested for damaging election material
With day two of special voting ending at 17:00 on Tuesday, the Commission appealed to parties to adhere to the code of conduct.
Lindsay Dentlinger
FILE: A voting station sign during voter registration. Picture: EWN
EWN
A ward candidate was arrested in Mpumalanga for trashing a polling station, while a civic organisation candidate is behind bars in Ngcobo in the Eastern Cape for allegedly attempting to steal election materials from the local police station.
The Electoral Commission said on Tuesday that it was taking legal steps to hold political parties accountable for the illegal behaviour of their members after uMkhonto weSizwe Party (MKP) supporters also stormed a library storage facility in KwaZulu-Natal.
With day two of special voting ending at 17:00 on Tuesday, the Commission appealed to parties to adhere to the code of conduct.
By midday, the Electoral Commission said it conservatively estimated that 1.3 million people had already cast their votes during the two days of special voting.
However, Chief Electoral Officer Sy Mamabolo said the Commission had noted a spike in criminal behaviour at polling stations, which was even being perpetuated by candidates in Wednesday's municipal elections.
"This ranges from the intimidation of officials, disruption of voting processes and tampering with voting material," Mamabolo said.
In Mpumalanga, a ward candidate is now behind bars for damaging election materials.
"Supporters of the uMkhonto weSizwe Party stormed the Dassenhoek library satellite warehouse where election materials are kept and held election officials hostage," Mamabolo said.
Mamabolo said MKP supporters made similar attempts to obtain election materials at other sites, including in Richmond and Pietermaritzburg.
Meanwhile, the Commission said one of two women representing the Ngcobo Yethu Civic Organisation in the Eastern Cape was arrested after impersonating electoral officials to get their hands on election materials.
One of them is a proportional representation (PR) candidate.