Political parties stand guard amid fears of ballot box tempering

The Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) in Bushbuckridge, Mpumalanga, has confirmed that some political parties are guarding outside the storage facility at Acornhoek where the ballot boxes are kept.

This after some political parties registered concerns about security threats, alleging that ballot boxes might be tampered with at the storage facilities.

IEC Municipal Electoral Officer in Bushbuckridge Fhumalini Thovhagale says, “There are political parties that are contesting in the Bushbuckridge Municipality, they raised issues of not trusting the process, saying they want to guard the ballots.  We have storage facilities we use as a municipality; we have your Thulamahashe side and also Mkhuhlu side, so the parties are allowed to go and guard as long as they don’t get inside the area where the ballots are kept in the warehouse. They have every right.”

RELATED VIDEO | Special Votes | IEC officials visit old age homes in Mpumalanga: