The IEC says it’s all systems go for the KZN 12 by-election.

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Less than a month after the parliamentary elections, political parties start a new electoral battle. KwaZulu-Natal will hold 12 by-elections on Wednesday. Elections will be held in Umzumbe, uMvoti, Newcastle, uPhongola, kwaNongoma, Melmoth and Umzimkhulu municipalities.

Most of them occur on the south coast in the Umzumbe community. Umzumbe hit the news following the resignation of six ANC councilors who joined the MK party. They were expelled from the ANC earlier this year because they voted with the IFP to elect a new mayor.

In most of the wards, the councilors have resigned, in Umzimkhulu, by-elections will take place after the departure of the ward councillor.

Seventy-two polling stations are expected to open in all municipalities. The IEC says it does not see any challenges with the electoral management system.

“This by-election focused on voter education to inform people why we are voting now so soon after the general election. To make them understand that there is no connection between the general election and the state and provincial by-elections. So we have done that and our systems are also ready because we have now disconnected from the main event and activated them for further local government election events. We don’t expect disruption at all because there are no [large] volumes,” says IEC KZN Electoral Officer Ntombifuthi Masinga.

The commission says that although it has been criticized by some political parties and accused of rigging votes in the general elections, the commission works closely with the police. They received no threat of riots.

“Another advantage of by-elections is that they can increase capacity because they affect specific areas, instead of having to be used in every polling station in the country. So we are quite satisfied with the level of organization of the SAPS to secure these by-elections, but we have not received any indication from our side that there are any areas that threaten to disrupt the by-elections in any way. So we are quite comfortable as a province,” explains Masinga.

Masinga says voters should not be surprised to be marked on the right thumb as the indelible ink is still visible to some..