IFP hearing 'pretty soon'
2004-04-20 11:59
Pretoria - The Inkatha Freedom Party's Electoral Court challenge against the outcome of the KwaZulu-Natal provincial poll would not be heard on Tuesday, with founding papers only expected to be filed on Wednesday.
An electoral court official said the party's papers were being forwarded by courier and should reach the court by Wednesday.
Only then would the court's five judges get together to decide on a date for the hearing, which the official said should be "pretty soon".
The matter was likely to be heard in Durban.
The IFP opted to challenge the election results after claiming the Independent Electoral Commission failed to probe 42 complaints of violence and intimidation lodged by the party.
The IEC announced the results of last Wednesday's national and provincial polls on Saturday and declared the election free and fair.
The IFP won 30 seats in the provincial legislature, compared to the African National Congress's 38. The Democratic Alliance, which has a cooperation agreement with the IFP, got seven seats.
Nationally, the IFP came third with 28 National Assembly seats. The ANC has 279 and the DA 50.
The IFP claims irregularities occurred in national and provincial elections, mainly in its traditional strong-hold of KwaZulu-Natal.
Party spokesperson Jon Aulsebrook accused the IEC on Monday of failing to inform all political parties of its intention to declare the poll free and fair.
"The Inkatha Freedom Party is accordingly unable to endorse the declaration of the election to have been free and fair and has tasked a legal team to investigate the institution of an appeal to the Electoral Court."
But deputy chief electoral officer Norman du Plessis said on Saturday that the IEC had received no official objections by Friday's 21:00 deadline.
Among other things, the IFP was concerned that 367 731 votes were cast in KwaZulu-Natal outside of registered voting districts.
It also accused the African National Congress of transporting its own supporters from one voting district to another.
Neither the IEC nor IFP or its lawyers were immediately available for an update on Tuesday morning.
The IFP has furthermore accused SA National Defence Force members of intimidating and assaulting residents of the Msinga area, allegedly preventing some from casting their votes. A dossier in this regard had been submitted to Defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota for investigation.
Ministry spokesperson Sam Mkhwanazi said the matter would be addressed at a press conference in Pretoria later on Tuesday.
- SAPA