The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) in the Eastern Cape said it had many “serious objections and complaints” about the system of the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) and would send that information to the party nationally.
In an interview with Sunday World on Friday afternoon, Simtembile Madikizela, the provincial secretary of the EFF in the Eastern Cape, said it was up to their leadership nationally to take the matter further, as they plan to escalate it.
He said they did not have a conclusion on what must be done to the IEC, given how they conducted the elections.
“We have lodged serious objections and complaints on the system of the IEC. The we will certainly hand over that information to the national leadership of the EFF. We will see whether we have to object to the entire results. Either that, or accept as discrepancies of the elections,” Madikizela said.
Concerned about the glitches
He said that even though they respected the results so far, they were concerned with glitches they picked up on the way. The results showed that the ANC would retain its majority.
“There were glitches with some presiding officers who tried to temper [with] the results. For instance, in Matatiele in Ward 2, the presiding officer there changed the result slip,” Madikizela said.
“And fortunately, our fighters were there to take photos at the voting stations and compare it. And an intervention had to be made.”
Madikizela said in some cases, the officers did not allow party agents of the EFF to do their work inside some voting stations. They viewed this as an attempt to prevent the EFF agents from participating in the elections process.
He said the emergence of uMkhonto weSizwe Party during these elections was something they were choosing to view in a positive light.
This was aligned with the main goal of the EFF from the beginning. The goal was to drop the ANC to below 50%.
Coalition talks
“Former President Jacob Zuma was always a key player. This especially when the president of the EFF [Julius Malema] started to have interactions with him (Zuma),” he said.
He said coalition talks will be handled by the national leadership of the EFF. There they are going to give direction on what will happen in the provinces.
Madikizela said it was solemnly the role of the national leadership to decide who was going to be partner in the coalition.
“It would depend on the attitude on whose is friendly to us… as the organisation has its own interest. You would remember that, [Malema] has declared that preferably [Floyd Shivambu] must be the finance minister of the country,” he said.
He said they rallied behind that call as a province. Because they have seen the capacity and strength of Shivambu when it came to economic issues.
On their own campaign before the elections, Madikizela said they had pulled every stop in what was a difficult election.
“The election campaign needed a lot of resources given the nature of the Eastern Cape and how it was structured.”
Adding that previously they relied on the young people for votes, but that they were attracting old people.
ANC MEC elated
Meanwhile, Cooperative governance and traditional affairs MEC in the Eastern Cape, Zolile Williams, was in great spirits. He applauded the people of the province for their conduct. The MEC praised them for conducting themselves in a peaceful, respectful, and orderly election process.
He said the elections concurred with the celebrations of 30 years of freedom and democracy. Thus confirming the fundamental constitutional responsibility of voting. He said this was a true symbol representing the voice of our nation.
“The lessons learned during this period have equipped us to mitigate challenges. [Especially] leading up to the upcoming local government elections.
“Respect for human rights is another area that requires leadership attention,” said Williams.
“These rights are inviolable, and we must protect them without fail from all quarters of our communities.”
On the other hand, police welcomed the arrest of two alleged instigators believed to be of the taxi strike on Monday. The incident led to all major routes to Mthatha being blocked. As a result, the first day of special votes was disrupted.
