MOLOKO MOLOTO
AN INDEPENDENT candidate in Limpopo’s Mutale municipality is threatening legal action against the Independent Electoral Commission.
Isaiah Mabonyane is not happy that the IEC decided by chance the outcome of an election he took part in. He wants it to rerun the vote in the municipality’s ward 3.
Mabonyane and an ANC candidate each received 823 votes. After a re-count, the IEC resorted to the tossing of a coin to determine the winner.
Limpopo’s provincial electoral officer, Nkaro Mateta, said the Municipal Structural Act provided that the commission hold lots to resolve the impasse. But Mabonyane refused to take part in the tossing of a coin. ANC candidate Sarah Rambuda won the toss.
Mabonyane had defected from the ANC to contest the election as an independent. He was unhappy that he had not been nominated as an ANC candidate before the poll.
“The people who wanted to nominate me were refused (permission) to do so,” he said. He claimed he enjoyed popular support in his ward.
“When I went to the villages to campaign, the traditional leaders always allowed me to. But they have been refusing the ANC to campaign,” said Mabonyane. He insisted he would win the election rerun. But the IEC will not budge.
“We cannot hold a by-election there because there is no vacancy – unless we are ordered to by the Constitutional Court,” said Mateta. She said Mabonyane had initially agreed to the coin toss, but had later made an about-turn.
Mateta said the decision to toss a coin had been taken in consultation with the IEC’s national office. She pointed out that a similar tie had taken place in KZN.
“It is not Limpopo alone. Even in KZN they had to use lots to decide on the winner,” said Mateta.
Mabonyane said he would first request a meeting with the IEC provincial leaders before taking the matter up nationally. “If they don’t rerun the elections we will go to (court),” he added.
Mabonyane said a lack of funds would not stop him from taking legal action against the IEC. “There are people who will help us,” he said.