The Pan Africanist Congress said on Tuesday that certain institutions in South Africa were run in such a manner that they ensured the dominance of the Tripartite Alliance.
In a statement on Tuesday‚ PAC spokesman Kenneth Mokgatlhe accused the Independent Electoral Commission and the SABC of bias in favour of the ruling party‚ the ANC‚ and its alliance partners‚ the SA Communist Party and trade union federation Cosatu.
He said the IEC was meant to ensure free and fair elections‚ but he cited ongoing court cases in which the independence of the IEC was brought into question.
He said the IEC had opted to register 16 million people without proof of residence‚ using the “rationale that people from informal settlements find it difficult to access proof of residence”‚ which was incorrect‚ since “the same people open bank accounts with the very same proof of residence”.
“It was in Tlokwe where we became very antagonistic towards the IEC because of its behaviour"‚ because the ANC was allowed to bus people in from other wards to win the election.
He said the IEC’s credibility had been weakened because it “will continuously be used to manipulate elections‚ ensuring the permanent rule of the ANC”.
Mokgatlhe accused the IEC of ending its relationship with the PAC because it said the party was undergoing internal feuds‚ but argued that it was no business of the commission to interfere in the internal affairs of a party.
He said ANC members were seen distributing freebie T-shirts and food parcels inside polling stations at Tlokwe with the help of the IEC officials.
Mokgatlhe said calls for the IEC not to use members of teachers’ trade union Sadtu‚ which is affiliated with Cosatu‚ had not been heeded.
He also accused the DA in the Western Cape of “being in cahoots” with the ANC in “running the IEFC”
He also said that the manner in which the chair of the IEC was chosen reinforced the commission’s bias.
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