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- The Good party has accused the DA in George of rigging votes by reregistering voters.
- However, the DA has dismissed the allegations.
- The electoral commission says the by-elections will proceed unless a court orders otherwise.
The DA says it conducted a "robust" campaign in the lead-up to Wednesday's by-elections in George, dismissing allegations of voter registration fraud which the Good party levelled against it over the weekend.
"We suggest that Good and the ANC not waste any more of the residents' time and let us get back to business. There is work to be done to restore service delivery in these wards that have been waning under Good.
"Our canvassing in George has shown that voters are not open to being paid off or scared into voting for smaller parties in the Western Cape. What they want is a party that cares and commits to good governance," provincial leader Tertuis Simmers said on Monday.
He added that parties that were "anxious and scrambling for fault" could air their concerns after the by-elections.
On Sunday, Good submitted evidence to the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC), accusing the DA of reregistering voters.
READ | The DA poaching their members is bad for GOOD's stability, says Herron
The party's secretary-general, Brett Herron, said voters in the Thembalethu ward, where there is no by-election, were reregistered as voters from Borcherds.
"The core principle of democracy is that legitimate voters get to elect the representative of their choice through a free and fair process. Rigging elections by fraudulently registering voters who don't qualify to vote subverts this principle and disregards the will of the people," Herron said.
He claimed that DA members tasked with registering voters admitted in affidavits that they had "acted under instruction, and the fraud only became apparent to them after the reregistration had been completed".
He called on the IEC to postpone the by-elections and to conduct an audit of the new registrations.
"If the allegations are substantiated, then the Municipal Electoral Act empowers the Electoral Court to impose an appropriate sanction, in the interest of a free and fair election, including an order cancelling the registration of the political party," he said.
But IEC Western Cape spokesperson Michael Hendricks said:
He confirmed that the commission had received the documents and said it would respond "accordingly".
