IEC officials who were "held hostage" by IFP members for more than five hours in Alexandra, Joburg, left the building unharmed after police had intervened.
According to an SMS distributed by the ANC in Gauteng, the party considered it to be a hostage situation.
Earlier, ANC spokesperson Jackson Mthembu did not want to comment on the situation, saying: "We don’t want to fuel the fire.”
Tensions flared between ANC party agents and IFP members after the IFP complained about the IEC having offices in the same office block as the ANC.
The IFP said the closeness of the offices could lead to tampering with ballots and possibly give an unfair advantage to the ANC in the elections.
The party members also claimed the vehicle used to transport ballots and other IEC documents was hired by the ANC.
More than 100 IFP members barricaded the IEC office on 8th Avenue in Alexandra in protest.
The ANC denied any foul play and said they moved into the offices in October – long before the IEC had.
No one was arrested on the scene.
