The
Electoral Commission has established that incidents of possible fraudulent
voter registration took place in Ward 59 Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality.
The information came to light during the Electoral Commission’s Targeted
Communication & Registration exercise that normally takes place ahead of a
by-election to fill a vacant ward seat.
The
Electoral Commission had reason to suspect that there were at least 19
fraudulent registrations or misrepresentations of material information to
facilitate registration in the voting districts and a ward where the applicants
were not ordinarily resident.
To
satisfy itself, the Electoral Commission instituted a preliminary assessment of
these impugned registrations. This preliminary assessment established that 15
applicants misrepresented address details in that the applicants were unknown to
home owners/occupiers of the homes of the implicated addresses.
To this
end, the Electoral Commission has laid criminal charges against the identified
individuals for possible fraudulent registrations in terms of Section 89(1)
read in conjunction with Section 97 and 98(b) of the Electoral Act 73 of 1998.
The
Electoral Commission would like to take this opportunity to remind voters that
it is a criminal offence to register and vote in a ward in which they are not
ordinarily resident.
For more information, contact your local Municipal Electoral Officer during office hours. Contact details for Municipal Electoral Offices are available on the IEC website at www.elections.org.za under Contact Us.
ISSUED BY THE ELECTORAL COMMISSION
Ensuring free and fair elections
18 October 2017
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