Africa-Press – South-Africa. A member of the GOOD party accused the mayor of Nelson Mandela Bay, Gary van Niekerk, and the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) of fraud.
The allegation stemmed from Van Niekerk’s announcement last Monday that the name of his party had successfully been changed from the Northern Alliance to the National Alliance (NA).
Sporting a wide smile during the announcement, in which he showed members of the media the confirmation letter from the IEC, Van Niekerk said it took the NA one step closer to running in the 2024 national elections.
However, a GOOD councillor, Lawrence Troon, said he had a suspicion the correct channels were not followed.
He alleged that Van Niekerk had been aided by someone in the IEC to facilitate the name change fraudulently.
Troon subsequently instructed his legal team, Nkontso & Co. Attorneys, to write a letter to the IEC, to request information about the process regarding the NA’s name change.
Troon told News24 that certain steps needed to be taken to apply for a name change of a political party.
As set out in the letter, this would include: a record of the application, accompanied by a request for such change; and, should the party concerned request that it be regarded as a national party, a record of 1 000 registered voters of the party concerned, who consent to the request for such change, should be included; placing a notice of the proposed name change in the Government Gazette; producing a formal party withdrawal certificate under its original name; and proof of the new certificate of registration under the new name.
Troon said there was no way Van Niekerk could have gotten 1 000 signatures because the “real” members of the NA were never informed of the name change nor did they sign anything.
According to Troon, these “real” members of the party were elected as the new leadership of the Northern Alliance at an elective conference held last Saturday.
“The confirmation letter from the IEC that Gary [Van Niekerk] has been flaunting around for the media is dated 28 May and that was a Sunday. I have already confirmed with the IEC that they do not work on Sundays. I believe in my heart, mind and soul that he committed fraud,” Troon said.
“We first approached the IEC, as a party, but received no response, that is why we got our lawyers involved. The IEC has until Friday to respond to the letter and provide us with all the information about how the name change took place.”
Van Niekerk responded to Troon’s claims by saying GOOD had a democratic right to ask the IEC for the information.
“It has got absolutely nothing to do with me. He must investigate. I honestly couldn’t care less,” Van Niekerk said.
Van Niekerk showed News24 the application forms the NA completed to apply for the name change as well as the notice placed in the Government Gazette.
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He added that, if Troon accused him of fraud in the media, without laying a criminal charge at the police, he would take matters further and lay a criminal charge against Troon.
Troon said that, if no response was received from the IEC by Friday, he would lay a charge of fraud against both the IEC and Van Niekerk.
He would also approach the court to subpoena the IEC.
The IEC’s provincial electoral officer and spokesperson, Kayakazi Magudumana, said the organisation had already responded to the parties regarding the letter.
Although Troon claimed there was no response from the IEC, Magudumana insisted an email was sent to respond to the parties.
When asked to comment on the allegation made against the IEC, Magudumana did not respond.
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