MK Party Lodges Formal Objection Over Alleged eThekwini Election Irregularities

The uMkhonto weSizwe Party has lodged a formal objection with the Electoral Commission of South Africa over alleged irregularities in the counting and verification of votes in eThekwini.

In a statement issued late on Friday night, the party said its acting secretary general Lindiwe Makubu submitted the objection under Section 65 of the Local Government: Municipal Electoral Act.

The objection raises concerns about reported system failures, discrepancies between electronically captured results and physical results slips, and problems in the counting, verification and reconciliation processes, particularly in the eThekwini municipality.

The MK Party has asked the IEC to freeze the processing of all contested ballots, allow independent forensic analysts to examine the count, and correct every outstanding error before declaring the final municipal election results.

“The MK Party regards this intervention as necessary to safeguard the integrity of the electoral process, ensure transparency and protect the democratic will of voters,” the party said.

Makubu stated that the party has a direct interest in the integrity and final outcome of the 2026 local government elections. She listed several alleged irregularities, including system failures and glitches at the eThekwini Results Operations Centre that the party claims disrupted data streams and altered audit trails.

The party also pointed to differences between electronic results and the certified physical copies of results slips (Form NP041) that were completed and counter-signed by party agents at voting stations. It further raised concerns about failures in the physical verification, reconciliation and sorting of ballots between 2 and 4 November.

Makubu accused the IEC of making public statements that incorrectly suggested the MK Party had failed to deploy party agents at various voting stations. She said these claims masked local system problems and broke the chain of custody, which obstructed the party’s right to oversight.

The party also applied for condonation in case its objection was processed after the 5pm Friday deadline, arguing that the alleged errors were still ongoing and could not be fully quantified earlier.

At the time of the objection, about 95% of votes had been counted nationally. In eThekwini, the MK Party was leading with 41.09% of the vote, followed by the DA on 23.09% and the ANC on 17.06%.

The IEC is expected to consider the objection before finalising the results.

https://iol.co.za/lge2026/2026-11-06-mk-party-lodges-formal-objection-with-iec-over-alleged-ethekwini-election-irregularities/