Despite the former president Jacob Zuma-led uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) Party agreeing to be sworn in as legislature members in KwaZulu-Natal, the party has no intentions to back down on its election-rigging case.
The party on Thursday told Sunday World that the court appearance of an IEC official in Pietermaritzburg had strengthened their resolve. Musawenkosi Mnikathi appeared in the Pietermaritzburg magistrate’s court charged with elections misconduct. Mnikathi was arrested in Plessislaer.
He was found in possession of ballot paper boxes. When asked, he couldn’t give answers as to why were they were kept with him instead of at the warehouse. All other IEC material are kept at the warehouse.
Tip of the iceberg
Now the MK Party believes Mnikathi’s case was only a tip of the iceberg. Many similar incidents had taken place throughout the country after and during voting day, it said.
“People of KwaZulu-Natal and elsewhere were robbed of an MK-led government because of election rigging.
“We said it from the start that our votes were stolen. And the appearance of an IEC official in court on Wednesday is proof enough. The elections were not free and fair,” said the party’s KZN spokesperson Vincent Mdunge.
The MK Party was contesting elections for the first time after defecting from the ANC. It surprised many with its electoral showing.
In KwaZulu-Natal, the party became the leading party recording 45% of the provincial vote. It claimed 37 seats in the provincial legislature in the process.
But the party was chucked out to the opposition benches following a coalition between the IFP, DA, ANC and the NFP to form government of provincial unity. However, the party is protesting the move. It says having secured the highest number of votes, it should lead the province. KZN is the province with the second-biggest economy in the country after Gauteng.
Want same privilege given to the ANC on national vote
“We are saying, …the ANC government scored 40% nationally and we received 45% in KZN. The ANC is allowed to form a government of national unity [as a result]. It should have been the case with us in KZN,” said Mdunge.
Nationally, the MK party scored 14%, giving the newcomer 58 seats in the national assembly.
In a show of force, MK Party supporters were transported from the lengths and breaths of the province. They gathered outside court singing struggle songs. The supporters lamented that the MK Party government was the last solution for the country.
Meanwhile, IEC lawyers representing Mnikathi want the matter to be transferred to the Electoral Court. This instead of being heard in by the magistrate. On Thursday, the Pietermaritzburg magistrate’s court was expected to rule on that.
