IFP calls shenanigans on alleged ANC registration bus plot

08 March 2016 - 19:32 By Penwell Dlamini

Mystery continues to surround a bus allegedly captured by ANC representatives in Soweto‚ ready to take IFP voters to another station where they were expected to register. Members of the IFP living in Diepkloof Hostel‚ Soweto‚ received information last week that a bus would arrive in the early hours of the morning bringing a group of people who would vote at the area's registration station.The bus was expected to arrive at 5am‚ said the IFP leader at the Diepkloof Hostel‚ Mxolisi Thusini.“After we were alerted about the coming of the bus‚ we were up in the morning and waited for it to arrive. It only arrived at 7am with just the driver‚” said Thusini.Thusini and other IFP members then refused to allow the bus to leave the registration station in Diepkloof‚ demanding answers from the driver.“The driver told us that he had been asked by an ANC person to take the people from Diepsloot and bring them here and take others from here to Thokoza Hostel in Ekurhuleni‚” said Thusini.Thusini called the police to alert them to the incident and also brought the matter to the attention of the Independent Electoral Commission.The IEC confirmed the incident but could not comment further.“The Electoral Commission became aware of the incident through media reports on Sunday‚ 6 March. In response‚ the area manager was despatched to the registration station to ensure that registration of voters continued in terms of the law. The legal position is that a person can only be registered in a voting district in which they are ordinarily resident. Registrations in this voting district were undertaken in terms of this legal injunction‚” said IEC spokesperson Kate Bapela.ANC spokesperson in Johannesburg Jolidee Matongo said yesterday that the matter had not been brought to the party's attention.“We were not aware of such an incident. We will have to investigate. The official word is that as the ANC we want people to register and vote where they stay. It is not acceptable that people move from one area to another (to vote). People must vote for a councillor in the area where they stay‚” said Matongo...

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