Less than a month after the general elections, political parties are set for another election battle with 12 by-elections expected to be held on Wednesday in KwaZulu-Natal. The elections will take place in Umzumbe, uMvoti, Newcastle, uPhongola, kwaNongoma, Melmoth and Umzimkhulu municipality.
The majority will be held in Umzumbe Local Municipality on the south coast. Umzumbe made headlines following the resignation of six ANC councilors who joined the MK Party. They’d been expelled by the ANC earlier this year for voting with the IFP during election of a new mayor.
In the majority of the wards the councilors had resigned, whilst in Umzimkhulu, the by-election comes after the passing of the ward councilor.
Seventy-two voting stations are expected to be open across all the wards. The IEC says it is not anticipating challenges with the voter management device.
“For these by-elections the focus was on voter education, just to educate people on why we are now voting soon after a general election. Just to make them understand that there’s no link between the general election for national and provincial elections and by-elections. So, we have been doing that and also our systems are ready because we have now switched off from the main event and we have activated them now for the by-election events in the municipalities. We do not expect any glitches at all because there are no [big] volumes,” says Ntombifuthi Masinga, IEC KZN Electoral Officer.
The commission says whilst it has been criticized and accused by some political parties for rigging votes in the general elections, it’s working closely with the police. They’ve not received any threats of disruptions.
“The other advantage with by-elections is that they can augment capacity because it’s particular areas that are affected unlike when they have to deploy in every voting station in the country. So, we are quite happy with the level of arrangement for the SAPS to secure these by-elections but on our side, we haven’t received any report whatsoever that there are areas that are threats of disrupting by-elections in any way. So, we are quite comfortable where we are as a province,” Masinga explains.
Masinga says voters should not be surprised as they will be marked on the right thumb as the indelible ink is still visible on some people.
