Africa-Press – South-Africa. The MK Party continued to show its strength ahead of next year’s local government elections by snatching a ward from the ANC in a by-election in ward 18 in Mandeni on KwaZulu-Natal’s north coast.
The party, led by former president Jacob Zuma, won the ward by 813 votes against 533 received by the ANC. The MK Party has taken over several wards from the ANC in by-elections in KwaZulu-Natal.
It also recently snatched ward 110 from the DA in eThekwini metro.
Voting in ward 18, was marred by allegations of vote rigging after an IEC official allegedly took a scanner to a certain house on the pretext of charging it. The official has since been suspended pending an investigation.
The ward became vacant after the ANC councillor Phendukani Mabhida was killed in February. It is alleged he was killed because he opposed ANC members involved in corruption at Mandeni local municipality. Before he was killed he received a threatening call warning him his days were numbered.
He was killed barely days after he wrote a letter containing allegations of corruption against some fellow party members to the ANC secretary in the General Gizenga Mpanza region, Sphe Zulu. Two alleged hitmen have since been arrested in connection with Mabhida’s murder. They are in custody after abandoning their bail application. Zulu acknowledged receipt of Mabhida’s letter.
He said Mabhida was killed before they could meet for him to explain in detail the contents of his letter.
Zulu also welcomed the swift response to the alleged contravention of the IEC Act of the official who allegedly took a scanner from a voting station.
“The ANC in the region welcomes the decision by IEC to take drastic action against a presiding officer and an official deployed to officiate the by-election in ward 18,” said Zulu.
He said the IEC official was accused of clandestinely removing the voter management device (VMD) from the voting station to an undisclosed location under the guise of charging it.
“The same official was caught trying to mobilise people against voting for the ANC. The official was persuading at least three young voters not to vote ANC saying that the ANC led Mandeni Municipality failed to gravel the access road leading to the voting station,” he said.
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