The EFF’s Marshall Dlamini said he found his special voting process seamless with the assistance of IEC in Umhlanga, Durban, on Tuesday. (Nkosikhona Duma/News24)

• The EFF declared itself satisfied with the IEC’s running of elections so far.
• The party it will keep a close eye on the electoral body to ensure it delivers free and fair elections.
• Marshall Dlamini said party observers reported no major incidents on Monday and Tuesday.

The EFF is satisfied with the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC), despite criticism of the electoral body by former president Jacob Zuma’s Umkhonto weSizwe (MK) Party.

However, Marshall Dlamini, the EFF secretary-general, said the party would continue to keep a close eye on the IEC.

Dlamini was addressing reporters on Tuesday after casting his vote in Umhlanga, north of eThekwini.

“The IEC must understand that the MK Party and others have a right to raise any issues. They [the IEC] are the only ones now who can hold this country together. So far, we are fine [with the IEC], but if issues arise, we’ll raise them sharply,” he said.

Dlamini said updates were received from party officials who observed the special vote process nationally, and no major issues were reported.

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On his own voting experience, Dlamini said he found the process seamless, and voting officials had been helpful.

“The IEC has a central role to ensure that we have a country after the 29^th [of May] by making sure that there’s transparency and communication,” he said.

Vote rigging claims

At the weekend, the MK Party made claims of vote rigging against the IEC.

Its members then allegedly invaded the IEC’s storage facilities, where ballot papers were kept, in Chesterville and Hammarsdale, in KwaZulu-Natal.

They recorded videos and shared it on social media.

In one of the videos, a man could be heard claiming that IEC officials had planned to deliver ballot boxes to voting sites two days prior to the elections, without any security or police escorts.

Nhlamulo Ndlela, the MK Party’s spokesperson, reportedly said the incident revealed its long-held view that the IEC was biased towards “Ramaphosa’s ANC”.

Kate Bapela, the IEC’s national spokesperson, however, dismissed the claims.

In a statement on Sunday, she said the videos depicted planned logistical arrangements and storage of election materials ahead of special voting on Monday and Tuesday.

“These are legitimate and authorised arrangements for the distribution of ballot papers and other bulk material,” she said.

“The planned security measures were that the trucks distributing ballot papers are escorted by SAPS to the local storage site. These storage sites will then be guarded on a 24-hours basis.

“This arrangement would ensure that the storage sites are protected against unauthorised entry, burglary and tampering with election materials, and ensure detailed control and recording of all items in storage.”

The IEC said no political party was authorised to access its facilities.