- A probe is under way after several Mpumalanga voting stations' ballot boxes were transported together.
- The ballot boxes were allegedly transported in one taxi, with some boxes showing signs of having been tampered with.
- The taxi driver was also allegedly wearing an ANC shirt.
Mpumalanga police are investigating a case in which election ballot boxes from different voting stations were transported by a taxi in the Ehlanzeni district.
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According to Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) rules, ballot boxes from each voting station must be transported separately.
According to police spokesperson Brigadier Selvy Mohlala, political party members laid a complaint alleging that on Tuesday at around 03:30, ballot boxes from several voting stations were delivered at the Mhala IEC office in Ward 16 in a taxi.
They claim the presiding officers came to deliver the ballot boxes and used one taxi to transport boxes from several voting stations.
"According to the information, the driver was wearing a political party shirt of [the] ANC [and] that caught the attention of other parties. They approached the taxi and found that they had loaded ballot boxes for five voting stations," said Mohlala.
EFF, African People's Convention and the Bushbuckridge Residents Association (BRA) members also claimed the ballot boxes had been tampered with, said Mohlala.
He said:
The IEC said parties signed off the results at the voting station and that the result from those stations would not have "been compromised or interfered with".
"The manner of rollback of the material is not as sanctioned and consequences will be applied. While we can do without such reports, they, however, point to the robustness of control measures in the result collation process which also include a role for candidates and parties," the IEC said.
The investigation continues.
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