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ANC MPs – clearly still in shock over the party's loss of three big metros to coalitions led by the DA – came up with conspiracy theories during a meeting with police management in Parliament on how the party may have lost the votes.
The police appeared on Wednesday before Parliament's oversight committee on policing to talk about crime and unrest related to the elections held earlier this month.
Acting police commissioner Khomotso Phahlane said the police had been equal to the task of ensuring peaceful elections, and he gave details of the work the police did before and during the polls.
But ANC MP Livhuhani Mabija wanted to know how the screening of IEC officials and service providers was done, who did it and whether it entailed the "neutrality" of these officials.
Mabija told how she was informed days after the elections about a senior citizen who wanted to vote for the ANC, but an IEC official who was assisting the senior citizen made the cross next to the EFF.
“I am asking myself how many ANC votes went to the EFF or other parties being done by IEC members.
"I am not saying the elections were not free and fair; I want clarity on how the screening was done. Was it part of checking the neutrality of IEC staff?" asked Mabija.
Freedom Front Plus MP Pieter Groenewald interjected and joked: "I object, I think there are some votes that were meant for Freedom Front Plus but went to the ANC."
Phahlane said the screening of officials was a function performed by the State Security Agency in the build-up to elections on those who were going to play a role like IEC presiding officers. He said he did not have all the details of what the screening entailed.
Another ANC MP, Angelina Molebatsi, wanted to know how "the security breach" at the IEC’s results centre happened. She was referring to the silent protest by four women activists who held up placards commemorating 10 years since Khwezi accused President Jacob Zuma of rape. Zuma was later acquitted in court.
“In terms of what happened at the IEC results centre on the final day, it was so spontaneous,” said Phahlane. He said there was a commitment to look into the details of the event and to find ways to ensure there was no recurrence.
"Everyone has got a democratic right to voice their issues but I think if people were a little bit clearer and not operating under a pretext, it would have been (easier to deal with it).
He requested not to say much about the matter but added that they would work hard to deal with similar matters in future.
Molebatsi also wanted to know whether the police were certain that there was no third force behind the five day unrest in Tshwane following the announcement of Thoko Didiza as the ANC's mayoral candidate.
Seven people died as a result of the violence which included looting of malls and foreign-owned small business and destruction of public property.
Phahlane said the police had found that criminality was a dominant factor in the unrest.
"We cannot only attribute what happened in Tshwane to that. You had violence on one side and land invasions on the other side," he said.
He said issues in the area persisted weeks after the elections.
Phahlane also called on politicians to be responsible in what they say. "We continue to learn that irresponsible statements by people in leadership positions remain a problem and that's why we continue to call on leaders to help us ease pressure on the resources of the police because we can’t allow a situation where tensions are being fuelled."
The committee heard that there were 782 election-related criminal cases that were opened with the police across the country between February 1 and August 5.
Only 168 of these cases went to court with 510 still being investigated.
Over 50% of the cases [394] were opened in Gauteng, with the least [12] in Mpumalanga, police documents revealed. The documents also showed that 490 suspects were arrested during the same period – two had been found guilty and 12 cases were withdrawn from the courts.
The police’s Leon Rabie revealed that there were 604 election-related cases opened in 2011 and a whopping 423 of the cases were withdrawn in court.
MPs from across the party spectrum congratulated police for the work they did in the build-up to and during the elections.
