Residents chase IEC officials away

Angry residents of the Mulima area chased away Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) officials at Vuwani on Saturday during the final voters registration on the weekend. The officials were under heavy police guard.

It was reported that members of the community had also disrupted IEC operations ahead of the voter registration weekend.

The community members are upset by the Demarcation Board’s decision to amalgamate some off their area with Ward 5 of the Makhado Municipality, which includes Mulima, Thondoni, Lambani, Vuka and Likhade. People from Mulima have been saying that they are unwilling to be part of Ward 5, which includes Magageni and surrounding villages.

The secretary of the Mulima Demarcation Forum, Mr Tendani Musehana, said community members would have proceeded with the voter registration peacefully if the government had consulted with them before, but the government instructed them to go to the new ward, which is far away from them.

“It is not only the Demarcation Task team, but the whole community of Mulima, which includes traditional leaders, saying that we cannot be part of the new ward.”

Some residents stated that they were happy that IEC officials left the area, because they didn’t want to vote. “We are very happy because it was our expectation for the IEC not to operate in our community. We are very excited that they failed to operate here,” one resident said.

Limpopo IEC electoral officer Ms Nkaro Mateta confirmed that the community of Mulima chased away IEC officers and she said that nine voting stations were closed on Saturday. She appealed to all the people who did not register to go the municipalities or to the IEC officer to register before the election in August.

Date:15 April 2016

By: Kaizer Nengovhela

Kaizer Nengovhela started writing stories for Limpopo Mirror in 2000. Prior to that he had a five year stint at Phala-Phala FM as sports presenter. In 2005 Kaizer received an award from the province's premier as Best Sports Presenter. The same year he was also nominated as Best Sports Reporter by the Makhado Municipality. Kaizer was awarded the Mathatha Tsedu award in 2014.

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