UMkhonto Wesizwe (MK) is not about to give up on its vote-rigging case against the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) MK’s youth wing on Friday marched to the Constitutional Court in Johannesburg, where it submitted a memorandum calling for a probe into the IEC’s handling of the 2024 general elections, which it argues were rigged.
Speakers, one after the other, questioned how MK came third when according to their own assessment, the party is the most popular outfit in South Africa.
“Whites are a tiny fraction of the population here in South Africa, and comrades we all saw how big MK rallies were during the campaign while DA can’t even fill a stadium, so they must explain to us how it (the Democratic Alliance) came second,” said Pat Malala MK Youth League’s Mpumalanga Youth Convener.
MK alleged the rigging was done through manipulation of the electronic vote counting system and claimed to have shocking evidence of what it believes the IEC did during various stages particularly the two hours when the screens at the results centre in Midrand crushed.
“What was the IEC doing during that two hours? We want to know, where are our votes, we demand to know as youth,” said Qiniso Cibane, the league’s national convener.
Despite consistently claiming to have evidence of rigging, MK is yet to produce such and is expected to get an opportunity to do so in the electoral court in Bloemfontein later this month when it will be entertaining oral arguments from MK and the IEC.
The youth league’s memorandum also calls for reforms in the electoral system to protect the integrity of future elections warning that a loss of confidence in the voting process may result in a lower voter turnout.
Among others, the league wants stricter monitoring of usage of electronic vote counting methods and more transparency from IEC.
It also accused the IEC, without providing any proof, of being complicit in the sidelining of MK in KwaZulu-Natal where it is the majority party having won 45 percent of the vote but failed to constitute a government leaving room for a Inkatha Freedom Party coalition that includes the DA and the ANC as key players.
“MK won that province but the IEC stole it and gave it to the GNU. MK is supposed to be governing in KZN and that’s why we are taking to the streets to demand justice because we can’t be led by people we rejected,” said Cebile indicating there’s a plan to hold demonstrations in that province to demand that MK be allowed to govern.
MK has continued to dominate in KZN and has had a good run elsewhere in the country having so far won 6 wards via by-elections including in Rustenburg Northwest and in Saldana Bay in the Western Cape.
“At the rate we’re going by the time we get to the elections we will be having more wards than some of the parties that contested the 2021 local government elections,” said MK Secretary Floyd Shivambu.