ANC plotting to rig elections: Holomisa

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Johannesburg - General Bantu Holomisa says the May 7 vote will be rigged by “rogue elements” within the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) who will facilitate the underperforming ANC.

In his trademark droll, the 58-year-old leader of the United Democratic Movement (UDM), told The Sunday Independent in an extensive interview this week that the ANC is mindful of the hammering it will get at the polls and it is for that reason alone “they don’t want to remove some people in the IEC which have been involved in the scandal of leasing of buildings”.

This could be a not so veiled reference to IEC chief Pansy Tlakula, who was the subject of a Public Protector report last year amid allegations of procurement irregularities at the elections body.

Though she has taken the matter to court to prove her innocence, Holomisa’s suspicions remain heightened.

“The ANC is very concerned (about shedding votes), hence they are pinning their hopes that those rogue elements will run the elections, so rigging will be on the high. There is no doubt about that.”

In recent weeks he wrote to the IEC on behalf of opposition parties, requesting a joint briefing with all party heads about preparedness and readiness for May 7.

They wanted to know if the ballot papers would have serial numbers printed on them and how many ballot papers would be distributed to each voting station.

They also wanted to find out which IT company has been appointed to count the votes.

The allocation of media airtime to the various political parties was another point of concern, as well as the role of international and national observers on polling day.

“For example, the IT company could be a subsidiary for (the ANC’s investment wing) Chancellor House. It is possible that it is a front for the National Intelligence Agency,” says Holomisa. “We don’t know and we needed to find out.”

That meeting is scheduled to take place in the coming weeks.

After a bruising defeat in 2009, when the UDM party barely scraped on to the polling radar, Holomisa has been notably prominent in this campaign. He drove news headlines earlier in the week when he announced his unexpected alliance with Mbhazima Shilowa, formerly of Cope, who has promised to help him secure his footing again in his home province in the Eastern Cape.

Five years ago, the UDM was all but annihilated when they took only 0.85 percent of the national vote and in the Eastern Cape they lost their position as the official opposition party to centre-right newcomers Cope. Shilowa has now promised to bring his 800 000-strong faction in Cope to the UDM and the two men will meet again on Tuesday to finalise who from that faction will make it on to the UDM’s list.

Yet, late last year Holomisa took a swing to the left when he pitched up at the launch of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) at Marikana, showing unwavering support for Julius Malema’s new political party.

“I like the boy,” he says of Malema. “He’s got guts. And he’s doing very well. The media made the mistake of underestimating him. But I began to take him seriously the day he appeared in court (in 2011) to defend himself. I could see what he was made of then.”

“That’s why I immediately accepted his invitation to the launch,” Holomisa explains.” Even this past week, I was invited by him personally to attend the launch of the manifesto.”

“General, my leader. Please make a turn at Tembisa,” Malema asked when he called him. “Man, unfortunately I’m in the Eastern Cape chairing a list conference,” Holomisa had responded.

“But otherwise I would have been there to support him,” he says now.

Together they make an unlikely political force. All three parties – the UDM, Cope and the EFF – are made up of former ANC members, yet each one is built on very distinct ideological beliefs. With the EFF on their far left and a former Cope faction on their right, does the UDM not confuse its voters with such a mixed ideological alliance?
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Link.
 
But the question always is, how blatant will they make it? Will they magically get a 2/3 majority? Or just prevent themselves from losing any more power?
 
I remember a time when I was told to get lost on this forum and that I was talking rubbish about election rigging.
Seems, yet again, I was right on the mark.

Seems recent developments such as e-tollie have pulled the wool off many forumite's eyes.
As a person who is frequently working in Zim, I can tell you South Africa is not very far from the point of no return.

Everyone is worried about Fatboy, you need to be really worried about Zooma.. he wants to be like Mad Bob.
 
TBH, the ANC have been rigging aspects of the elections since day 1...

It all depends on how obvious they want to be about it.
 
I wish our elections would be observed and monitored by the UN and EU
 
Flip-Flop said:
I wish our elections would be observed and monitored by the UN and EU
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That would never happen because they would then be caught, ne.

I don't think the cANCer has had a need to rig an election. This year, however, they might need it to retain 2/3.
 
Why must they go to all that trouble. A few free T shirts gets teh job done.
 
They shall just rezone the areas, to ensure that they will win, they did it the last local government election, nothing is stopping them from doing it again.
 
Sasha_za said:
They shall just rezone the areas, to ensure that they will win, they did it the last local government election, nothing is stopping them from doing it again.
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It's a pretty common election trick. US and UK parties have used it before.
 
Koosi said:
That would never happen because they would then be caught, ne.

I don't think the cANCer has had a need to rig an election. This year, however, they might need it to retain 2/3.
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They can't really retain it if they don't have it already.
 
Off course it will be rigged. I reckon it is one of the biggest reasons we still vote using paper as opposed to electronic systems.
 
lcbxx said:
Off course it will be rigged. I reckon it is one of the biggest reasons we still vote using paper as opposed to electronic systems.
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Ireland scrapped thier voting machines and are going back to ballots.
 
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