IEC takes on MKP members over ‘inflammatory’ statements

The Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) is taking two members of the uMkhonto weSizwe Party (MKP) to task over their public utterances that the body believes threaten the upcoming elections and violate the Electoral Code of Conduct.

The IEC this week said it is taking Bonginkosi Khanyile and Visvin Reddy to court. Deputy CEO of the IEC, Mawethu Mosery, said papers had been filed with the Electoral Court.

However, the MKP has accused the IEC of singling out the party, saying politicians from other parties have been making inflammatory statements without being sanctioned.

In March, the two MKP members threatened there would be no elections and that there would be anarchy if former president Jacob Zuma, now MKP leader, was not allowed to contest the elections on behalf of the party.

Zuma and the MKP are already embroiled in a separate legal dispute with the IEC on whether Zuma qualifies to be on the ballot in light of his criminal conviction and 15-month sentence. The matter will be heard before the Constitutional Court.

Reddy was caught on video making threats, and this has been circulated on social media. In the video, recorded after a court hearing, Reddy said: “We are sending a loud and clear message: if these courts which are sometimes captured, if they stop MK, there will be anarchy in is country.

“There will be riots like you have never seen in this country. There will be no elections. No South African will go to the polls if MKP is not on the ballot.”

In another incident, Khanyile had addressed the media in the Johannesburg CBD, where he was commenting about the legal case against the ANC over the trademark and registration of MKP, the party’s list to Parliament, and the MKP youth league’s future.

“If they remove the MKP and president Zuma from the ballot as the face of the campaign and try to take our rights, there won’t be elections in South Africa,” Khanyile reportedly said at the time.

Speaking to “The Mercury”, Mosery said, “All that we are saying to the court is that we believe that these individuals have made public utterances that are in violation of the code of conduct.

“We are filing papers against the individuals concerned and we are filing against the party because we do not have the particulars of the people involved.”

He said if the court found that the IEC was right in its complaint, the court had a range of sanctions that it could impose for such conduct.

“Should the court find for the IEC, the individuals concerned will still have an opportunity to plead with the court to show leniency, they could just be fined.”

Other sanctions, he said, could include removing the candidates from the list for Parliament or docking a portion of the party’s votes after the elections.

Mosery said the IEC was not concerned about being involved in another legal dispute against the MKP.

“The Constitution says that we must act without fear or favour, and if the IEC believes that its actions are right, it will act in that manner,” he said. MKP spokesperson Nhlamulo Ndhlela said the party felt it was being targeted by the IEC.

“The IEC cannot claim to be an independent election body at this point.

They said these comrades made violent utterances that go against the code of conduct. There are many other politicians that have been making threats, directed at president Zuma, but nothing has been said about them.

“The IEC has also given us a deadline to respond to this by Friday, the same day we are supposed to be preparing our responding affidavits to the Constitutional Court matter regarding the candidacy of president Zuma. You can see that something is fishy here,” he said.

The Mercury