Champagne on ice as IEC handles possible voter fraud before declaring ANC as uPhongolo victors

The Independent Electoral Commission was on Thursday withholding the results of a fiercely contested by-election in uPhongolo Municipality's Ward 7 pending the authentication of 46 voters whose addresses were being verified.

The IEC received eight objections on Wednesday which were all resolved‚ but an issue of 46 ineligible voters cropped up in the wake of the vote - forcing the commission to withhold the result until late on Thursday.

The ANC have walked away with a narrow victory - just 95 votes - in the northern KwaZulu-Natal municipality. Interim results have the ruling party leading with 834 votes‚ while its close rival‚ the IFP‚ received 739‚ meaning it retained Ward 7.

Meanwhile‚ the NFP took 368 votes and the EFF just 38.

IEC provincial electoral officer Mawethu Mosery said while the resolution of the dispute will not change the outcome‚ they were needed to ensure the integrity of the election. He said the IEC had set aside the ballot papers of the affected voters and that its team‚ using GPS coordinates‚ was going to each of their claimed homes to verify their addresses.

"Otherwise‚ the elections proceeded smoothly without any questions - except for the objection that 46 voters were not supposed to be in the ward they voted in‚" he said.

Political parties have until 5pm on Friday to lodge any further objections‚ he said.

Themba Ntshangase was elected the new ward councillor in the uPhongolo Local Municipality‚ beating candidates from the IFP‚ NFP and the EFF.

An elated KwaZulu-Natal ANC spokesman Mdumiseni Ntuli said: "This election victory is significant because it reaffirms the leadership role of the ANC as the governing party of uPhongolo Local Municipality and also consolidating the movement's upward trajectory in the northern parts of our province."

The election came after Mbhekiseni "Pat" Khumalo‚ a former ANC Ward 7 councillor was shot dead in December.

Ntuli said he hoped Khumalo's killers would be apprehended and that the party has urged President Jacob Zuma to establish a national task team to investigate the killing - and also to help efforts by provincial premier Willies Mchunu in his endeavours to get to the bottom of the political killings.

-TimesLIVE