Every voting period there is some type of controversy around the credibility and outcome of the “votes”. For years people have been talking about ballot boxes being stuffed with pre-ticked ballots, boxes of certain area’s votes going missing etc. but nothing as serious as this election’s controversy. The reports of the double- voters scandal.

The Independent Election Commission of South Africa (IEC) urgently carried out a vote audit to determine if double voting did occur and there were cases found

Normally word gets out about things like this and nothing gets done about it but this year action is being taken. Is it a coincidence that action gets taken when the allegation is against the public but no action was ever taken when the government or IEC is accused of wrongdoing.

The Infamous Double-Voters

It has been reported by the Provincial Electoral Commission of SA (IEC) officials that nineteen people were arrested in KZN for “double voting”. The arrests were made in Port Shepstone, Hluhluwe and Danhauser.

“They are all in a pile and all look the same. It is not like it is cast in an envelope or something identifiable. It is impossible to find those votes. Political parties will make decisions on that aspect.”, said Mawethu Mosery, IEC deputy electoral officer. In other words, duplicated votes will still be counted.

The IEC reported that there is no substantial evidence that the suspects that have been arrested have double voted but they don’t want to interfere in the case of the SAPS. They also mentioned that there isn’t even evidence or reports that these people voted once, is this statement just covering up the fact that the system was compromised? We will probably never really know.

Were Voters Bussed in to Vote?

There have been reports that the ANC had bussed in foreign nationals in Northern KZN. Mosery said, “We have not received any objection from the [IFP]. I think it is a problematic statement in KZN where we have had challenges of xenophobia. It is misleading to say that. You have to be an SA citizen to vote and carry an SA ID to vote in this country.”.

These allegations were looked in to and Mosery announced that some parties had provided transport for supporters and parties are allowed to provide transport for voters. Is anyone else putting this together…ofcourse there is something wrong here.

Investigations Into the Ink Used

The IEC reported that it also ordered to examine the effectiveness of irremovable ink pen delivered for the election. As many of us have seen on social media or trying to remove it ourselves, the ink could be easily removed with little effort which had never been a problem before.

The IEC has said that it will only announce final results of the election once it is 100% confident in the integrity and legitimacy of the results. Reports about the investigations into the ink was never published and results are out for the ANC win so I’m guessing no action will be taken on the problematic ink.

Can We Trust The Outcome Of The Elections in Favor of The ANC

Now the question stands, can we actually trust that the election results have not been manipulated? Are we 100% sure the IEC is truly independent? After all the scandal and allegations from removable ink to double voters, I’m not sure what to believe. I think alot of South Africans are feeling confused and rather annoyed to say the least because if the system of public voting is compromised in any way how do we trust the outcome of the ANC ruling.

election results south africa The Panda

As you can see for the National elections of 2019 the ANC won with 57.5% of the votes, the DA came in second with 20.77% of the votes and the EFF received 10.79% of the votes. * The remaining percentage goes to the smaller parties not seen here.

How do we trust that there weren’t other systems/ process failures that compromised the outcome of the 2019 elections? With all the problems this year do you think we should have gotten a re-vote or would it just be a waste of time?