MK party asks IEC to freeze disputed eThekwini election results

The MK party has asked the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) to set aside part of the votes counted in eThekwini, claiming that problems with the results system have cast doubt on the count. The Citizen reported on the objection on Saturday.

According to the report, the party lodged its objection with the commission on Friday. It claims a “critical system failure” hit the live capturing and transmission of results at the IEC’s eThekwini Results Operations Centre. The party says this disrupted data streams and “altered the visible audit trails”. These claims are allegations, and the report did not include a response from the IEC to them.

What MK says is wrong

The party says it has since found “severe arithmetic and physical mismatches”. In its view, the figures captured electronically and shown on the centre’s leaderboards differ in a systematic way from the certified paper results slips, known as Form NP041. Party agents at individual voting stations complete and countersign these slips.

MK also alleges that the checking, reconciliation and sorting of ballots this week was marred by failures of its own.

The Citizen noted that the votes in question appear to be those counted in eThekwini. MK is currently ahead there but does not hold an outright majority.

The party’s demands

MK has asked the IEC to:

• freeze the capturing and processing of results for the affected voting districts and wards in the metro until an open audit has taken place;
• hold back announcements of results until the dispute is settled;
• give a detailed forensic explanation of the alleged glitch and how data was affected; and
• let an independent forensic systems analyst, appointed by the contesting parties, examine the backend, the source code and the reconciliation of physical ballots.

The party also objected to the IEC’s statements that it had not placed agents at a number of stations. MK says this hides “localised system lapses” and breaks in the chain of custody, and it wants the commission to withdraw the remarks publicly, calling them defamatory.

Background and protest

The report links the objection to long-standing distrust of the IEC among MK members, dating back to system errors during the 2024 general elections. The party says those errors may have affected its share of the vote. This week, deputy president Duduzane Zuma said MK was still unhappy with how that matter was handled and wanted greater transparency.

On Friday, MK supporters gathered outside the eThekwini results centre and warned against possible foul play. Party officials urged calm and told the crowd that the party was monitoring the results.

What this means for residents

For now, the demands are requests made to the IEC, and the report does not say whether the commission has agreed to any of them. Residents waiting for the final eThekwini outcome should rely on official IEC announcements, as the dispute could affect how and when results are confirmed.

This story is based on reporting by The Citizen.