IEC says preparations for LGE in KZN going well

The Electoral Commission (IEC) says preparations for the local government elections (LGE) in KwaZulu-Natal are going well, with no reports of so-called no-go areas so far.

Provincial Electoral Officer Ntombifuthi Masinga says 111 political parties and 104 independent candidates are contesting the elections. The parties and candidates will be hoping to win the support of more than six million registered voters in the province, which has the second-highest population in the country after Gauteng.

“In KwaZulu Natal, we have a total of 26 497 candidates across political parties, including independent candidates that are going to be contesting 2 166 seats in this province. These political parties are not simply committing themselves as individuals to abiding by the code, but they are also committing their supporters. I think we are doing very well as a province. We haven’t had incidents of no-go areas being reported.”

Seventeen political parties contesting all wards in the province have signed the Commission’s provincial Code of Conduct in Durban, committing to upholding the rules for free, fair and peaceful elections.

Speaking at the signing ceremony, IFP representative Inkosi Ntandoyenkosi Shabalala has urged parties not to view one another as enemies.

“We are not gathered here to surrender our political differences, but we are gathered here to protect the democratic space in which those differences can be expressed. The Inkatha Freedom Party in KwaZulu-Natal stands firmly for an electoral process that is free, fair, peaceful, transparent and credible. We believe that all South Africans must be free to choose their political representatives without intimidation, without fear and without violence. Every party, large or small, must have the opportunity to campaign, to speak to communities.”

The MK Party’s Willies Mchunu, “The MK Party supports political tolerance, peaceful co-existence among South Africans holding different political views. Peaceful campaigning and elections conducted in an atmosphere of peace freedom and respect. We believe that political competition is a central part of democracy. We may disagree profoundly about the direction in which our country and our province should go, but disagreement must not and must never mean that we cease to recognize one another in our rights and South Africans.”

The ANC’s provincial task team convener Mike Mabuyakhulu, “KwaZulu-Natal knows the devastating cost of political intolerance. We carry the scars of fractured communities and lost lives when political rivalry turned to violence. That painful legacy imposes an unyielding duty upon us all. We must never return to that past. Therefore, we must not only public a condemned intimidation and violence in all these forms as we head to the polls but must work actively to read the upcoming election of these cancers.”