Findings of the investigation into voter registration irregularities in the Abaqulusi Municipality

31 Jul 2013

The Electoral Commission (IEC) was ordered by the Electoral Court in April 2013 to request the MEC responsible for local government to postpone the by-election that was scheduled for 24 April in Ward 22, Abaqulusi [Vryheid] Municipality - KZN 263 in KwaZulu-Natal and investigate allegations of irregularity which may have occurred during the registration drive for this by-election. This followed on an urgent application launched by one of the prospective candidates in that by-election.

The Chairperson of the Commission, Adv. Pansy Tlakula, said the initial investigation involved an electronic analysis of voter movement to determine the number and pattern of voting district migration which took place in the period leading to the by-election.

This analysis revealed the following pattern:

• Total registration activity: 2 464
• New registrations: 430
• Re-registration in the same voting district: 167
• Voting district migration: 1 867

Adv. Pansy Tlakula also said that further investigations focused on voter migration this being the essence of possible fraudulent registrations. In view of the high number of voting district migration from outside ward 22, an in loco investigation was done by a team of 25 fieldworkers. The fieldwork was preceded by a number of community meetings under the leadership of the Provincial Electoral Officer, Mr Mawethu Mosery, and included Party Liaison Committee (PLC) members, the prospective independent candidate and staff of the Municipal Electoral Office.

Fieldworkers visited the addresses given on the registration application form to confirm that the applicants were indeed ordinarily resident at those addresses. A total of 1 541 applicants were found not to be resident at the given addresses and recommended to be returned to their voting districts of origin.

Section 30 of the Constitution and the Promotion of Administrative Justice Act (Act 3 of 2000) requires that persons who are the subject of an administrative action by a state organ must be given an opportunity to make representations if such administrative action would negatively affect them. In consequence those earmarked for removal from the ward segment of ward 22 were to be notified of such intention and given an opportunity to make representations.

The Electoral Commission took the following steps to comply with this requirement:

• The sheriff of the court in Vryheid served notice in both English and isiZulu. A substantial number of these applicants could not be located by the sheriff at the given address resulting in a high number of returns of non-service.
• Public notices with the names of the persons identified for removal from the voting districts of ward 22 were placed in the local Vryheid Herald. Radio Ukhozi was also used to notify registered voters to check their registration details with the local office of the Electoral Commission in Vryheid.

Only 11 representations were made to the Electoral Commission. Eight (8) of the 11 cases were retained in ward 22 whilst three (3) were returned to voting districts of original registration.

The voters' roll of ward 22 was accordingly corrected by removing a total of 1 525 voters and these voters were placed in the voting districts of original registration.

Adv. Tlakula said that the Commission was now satisfied that the voters roll in ward 22 is credible and on this basis the voters roll segment for ward 22 was certified by the chief electoral officer. The provisional voters' roll was made available to participating parties for the by-election of 7 August 2013. The following political parties are contesting the by-election, African Christian Democratic Party, African National Congress, Inkatha Freedom Party and the National Freedom Party.

Currently a criminal investigation at the behest of the South African Police Service is underway. The Commission is hopeful that those responsible for this occurrence will be brought to book and will provide the Police with all assistance that may be necessary to bring the matter to conclusion.

During this investigation the Commission met leaders of political parties in the province with a view to seeking their cooperation in decisively dealing with registration fraud.

"Our democracy stands to weaken when the registration process is manipulated for short term political expediency of winning ward elections."The Electoral Commission calls on electoral stakeholders to conduct themselves in manner that facilitate the strengthening of electoral democracy development in the province.

Manipulating the electoral process by fraudulently registering voters represents an affront to the ethos that constitute the cornerstone of our constitutional system. Thus such conduct has no place in a modern democratic state that we are continuously trying to consolidate," said Adv. Tlakula.

Please find copy of report

Political parties' report on Abaqulusi registration fraud, 31 July 2013

Following the court relief granted to Mr Andre Lotter which compelled the Commission to request a postponement of voting day in respect of a by election in ward 22 of Abaqulusi municipality, an investigation was undertaken.

By the end of April 2013, electronic analysis of voter movement was done which revealed total registration activity in the relevant period in the following terms:

1. The total registration activity was 2464.
2. New registrations were 430.
3. Re-registrations in the same voting districts were 167 and
4. Voting districts moves were 1867.

Of necessity the central focus of the investigation was on the voting district moves.

The spatial mapping of the information in 2 above confirmed that a substantial number of the voting district moves were in fact within the town of Vryheid in the Abaqulusi municipality. Although re-registrations were not limited to the municipality, certain voting districts in the municipality, 43501531, 43570166, 43570133, 43570111 and 43570122 provided the highest number of voting district moves. These voting districts are not part of ward 22. This pattern of registration is unnatural and peculiar and provided prima facie evidence of possible registration fraud.

The Provincial Electoral Office in KZN did an in loco investigation in relation to the high number of voting district moves into ward 22. A team of 25 field workers was constituted and trained on the nature of the investigation. Field work on 13th May 2013 and concluded same on 17th May 2013.

The investigation followed a number of community meetings which were undertaken under the leadership of the Provincial Electoral Officer which amongst others included various Party Liaison Committee members, Mr Andre Lotter and the staff of the local municipal office. The actual process of investigations involved the field team visiting given addresses on the registration application form to confirm that the applicants were indeed ordinarily resident at those addresses.

Based on the in loco field work described in 5 above 1 541 applicants were recommended to be returned to the voting district of original registration which were outside ward 22. The premise for this being that they could not be found at the given address where they are supposed to be ordinarily resident or that the occupants of such residence did not know the applicants. 326 registered voters found to be ordinarily resident within voting districts in ward 22.

In 7 of the 1 541 cases, registration application forms did not have address details at which a notice could be served. Thus 1 534 cases could, on the face of it, be served.

Section 30 of the Constitution and the Promotion of Administrative Justice Act (Act 3 of 2000) requires that persons who are subject of an administrative action by a state organ must be given an opportunity to make representations if such administrative action would negatively affect them.

A total number of 1 534 notices of intention to change registration details were accordingly prepared. These notices were made available in both English and IsiZulu. The sheriff of the court in Vryheid was responsible for serving of these notices. A substantial number of these applicants could not be located by the sheriff at the given address resulting with a high number of returns of non-service.

Furthermore, public notices with the names of the persons identified for removal from the voting districts of ward 22 were placed in the local Vryheid Herald. Radio Ukhozi was also used to notify registered voters to check their registration details with the local office of the Electoral Commission in Vryheid.

The Electoral Commission placed an attorney at its local office in Vryheid from 18th June 2013 to 5th July 2013 for purposes of evaluating the representations as may have been made by the voters who had been served notices.

In the end only 11 representations were made to the Electoral Commission. 8 of the 11 cases were retained in ward 22 whilst three were returned to voting districts of original registration.

Below is a breakdown of the voters to be removed.

The voters roll of ward 22 was accordingly corrected by removing a total of 1 525 voters. The voters were placed in the voting districts of original registration outside ward 22. The provisional voters' roll was made available to participating parties and the independent candidate.

A criminal investigation at the behest of the South African Police Service is underway. The Commission is hopeful that those responsible for this occurrence will be brought to book and will provide the Police with all assistance that may be necessary to bring the matter to conclusion.

During this investigation the Commission has met leaders of political parties in the province with a view to seeking their cooperation in decisively dealing with registration fraud. Our democracy stands to weaken when the registration process is manipulated for short term political expediency of winning ward elections. The Electoral Commission will not tolerate such behaviour.

The Commission is satisfied that the voters' roll for ward 22 is now credible and on that basis the Chief Electoral Officer certified same for use for the 7th August 2013 by election.

Statement issued by the Independent Electoral Commission, July 31 2013

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