More police deployment as party supporters storms IEC storage facility in KZN

The Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) in KwaZulu-Natal has beefed up security at its various storage facilities after a group tried to forcefully gain entry into some of them.

“During roll-back last night, supporters of one of the contesting parties forced their way into the precinct at one satellite storage facility at Dassenhoek library,” Ntombifuthi Masinga, the IEC KZN provincial electoral officer, said on Tuesday.

“The SAPS intervened and the crowd was dispersed. No material was tampered with or compromised. Similar attempts were reported in Richmond, uMkhambathini and Pietermaritzburg where political parties tried to gain access or post their private guards. The SAPS successfully intervened and order was restored.

Such transgressions to the Electoral Code of Conduct are regrettable given that all contestants have signed to adhere to the code of conduct.”

She said it was concerning that there was a sudden surge of interest in accessing IEC storage facilities.

“Our storage facilities are not public facilities and there’s no reason for people to know where we store our materials. People should be worried about only whether there’s sufficient material at voting stations and that they arrive on time. Since 2024, we have been experiencing incidents of people having an interest in our storage facilities.”

Masinga was updating the media on the progress and status of the final day of the special voting process in the province.

In another incident, the commission released a presiding officer of her duties after she was seen boarding an e-hailing taxi branded in party colours while carrying election material.

“On investigation, it was established that the e-hailing taxi did belong to the presiding officer concerned and it was driven by her son. The commission subsequently terminated the services of the presiding officer on the grounds of transporting election material in a vehicle branded with party colours and logo,” Masinga said.

By late afternoon, 133 931 of the 362 878 approved special votes had been administered, accounting for 37% of the total number of approved special votes.