Electoral Commission lays charges of registration fraud against 15 individuals in Ekurhuleni, East Rand

The Electoral Commission has established that incidents of possible fraudulent voter registration took place in Ward 59 Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality.

The information came to light during the Electoral Commission’s Targeted Communication & Registration exercise that normally takes place ahead of a by-election to fill a vacant ward seat.  

The Electoral Commission had reason to suspect that there were at least 19 fraudulent registrations or misrepresentations of material information to facilitate registration in the voting districts and a ward where the applicants were not ordinarily resident.  

To satisfy itself, the Electoral Commission instituted a preliminary assessment of these impugned registrations. This preliminary assessment established that 15 applicants misrepresented address details in that the applicants were unknown to home owners/occupiers of the homes of the implicated addresses.  

To this end, the Electoral Commission has laid criminal charges against the identified individuals for possible fraudulent registrations in terms of Section 89(1) read in conjunction with Section 97 and 98(b) of the Electoral Act 73 of 1998.  

The Electoral Commission would like to take this opportunity to remind voters that it is a criminal offence to register and vote in a ward in which they are not ordinarily resident. 

For more information, contact your local Municipal Electoral Officer during office hours. Contact details for Municipal Electoral Offices are available on the IEC website at www.elections.org.za under Contact Us.

Statement issued by the IEC, 18 October 2017