By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The allegations of signature fraud has surfaced that Umkhonto weSizwe Party (MKP) has extensively forged signatures to qualify for the 29 May elections.
According to legislation, political parties must submit at least 15 000 signatures of members and supporters to register for this year’s election and appear on the national ballot.
A former senior party official reportedly submitted a statement to the Western Cape police last week stating that the party obtained the names, identity numbers, and cell phone numbers of job seekers from the Cape Metro Council’s database.
The MK party has denied these allegations, stating that a fraud case should be opened against the former senior official since he claims he was onboarding people fraudulently.
“He is no such leader in the party, and we now found out that he had a sketchy past. He actually wanted to be on our list,” said party spokesperson Nhlamulo Ndlela.
“When we could not put him on our list, then he went rogue. What is concerning is, clearly, if he says that he was onboarding people fraudulently then he must be investigated.”
“If there’s a case against us, then we will welcome the process. We have no issues with that.”
The IEC’s David Mandana said the commission would need to verify the facts before commenting on the allegations.
With the latest Ipsos poll predicting that MK party could receive as much as 8% of the vote on 29 May, the leadership cleanout comes as a surprise.
Those expelled along with party co-founder Jabulani Khumalo, were treasurer-general Rochelle Davidson, Ray Khumalo, Bheki Manzini and Lebo Moepeng.
Fullview understands the purge follows unconfirmed claims of “secret meetings” with African National Congress (ANC) leaders and “financial impropriety”.