IEC wants speedy probe into MK party fraudulent signatures claim
The Independent Electoral Commission has called on authorities to swiftly investigate allegations that Umkhonto weSizwe forged the candidate nomination signatures it submitted to the electoral body.
Weekend media reported that a former senior party member alleged the party forged signatures during the candidate nomination process.
A criminal complaint has since been filed with the police.
"The commission calls on the crime investigation authorities to expedite the investigations in order to establish the veracity of the allegations made," the IEC said in a statement on Monday.
"An expeditious investigation is essential for the conduct of free and fair elections."
The commission said the candidate nomination system's signature portal verified the identity numbers submitted as those of registered South African citizens.
"In other words, this entailed establishing whether the person is a citizen, alive and registered on the voters’ roll.
"The commission had indicated in the parliamentary process during debates on the institutionalisation of the signature requirement that it would be impossible to establish whether the signatures proffered were indeed of those persons who purport to have given them."
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