The MK Party says allegations that it forged signatures to contest as a party for the upcoming elections was made by a disgruntled former member, who had ambitions of getting a senior position after the elections.
According to reports, Lennox Ntsodo, a former volunteer of the party in the Western Cape, told police in that province in a statement that the party allegedly forged signatures that would see it eligible to appear on the May 29 ballot.
The Electoral Commission of SA (IEC) required that political parties gather at least 15 000 signatures, while independent candidates needed 1000 signatures to contest the elections.
Ntsodo reportedly told police that the forgery of the signatures to meet the IEC threshold was achieved by a team of 20 people whom he appointed.
He alleged that the team fraudulently obtained names, ID numbers, and cellphone numbers of job seekers from a database of the Cape Metro Council.
In his affidavit, Ntsodo alleged that they compiled the lists at the house of the MK Party’s secretary-general in the Western Cape and South Africa’s former ambassador to Qatar, Faizel Moosa.
They reported the team’s daily progress to MK Party Western Cape chairperson, Fumanekile Booi, he alleged.
MK Party spokesperson Nhlamulo Ndhlela said they welcomed the police investigation, describing Ntsodo as a party volunteer who became disgruntled after he was rejected from the party’s parliamentary list.
“We found out that he was involved in questionable transactions and we could not put him on the list. That angered him and all of a sudden now he is coming with an affidavit and opening the case.
“We welcome the case and in actual fact MK Party is the aggrieved party here.”
Moosa on Monday told “The Mercury” that he had heard about the issue of fake signatures through the media.
“I was not aware of it. I was collecting signatures from across our membership in the province. Lennox was only one of the team out there collecting signatures.
“Yes, they did use my house for the verification process because they didn’t have a place to work from. So I offered my house but at no stage did I have any knowledge of signatures being forged.”
Moosa said the party had asked the Western Cape province to get 7 200 signatures but they provided close to 9 000 signatures. He said Ntsodo had indicated on a few occasions that he wanted to be number one on the province’s national list and if this did not materialise, then he would have issues.
“I didn’t really take much note of this until afterwards and I thought maybe he came in with a very specific plan to destabilise the party.”
Booi said he was the party’s provincial convenor and did not handle any material regarding administration. “The party is clear that I have not dealt with the signatures and I am not the person to provide answers regarding signatures.”
The IEC has not commented on the matter but earlier this month said it was leaving it to Parliament and affected individuals to deal with any alleged forgery during the collection of signatures by political parties and independent candidates. It also did not have any way of verifying whether the signatures given to it by parties and independent candidates belong to the ID numbers they had submitted. The commission’s deputy chief electoral officer in charge of outreach Mawethu Mosery said if it emerged there was a forged signature then Parliament would have to deal with it.
The Mercury