The 2014 general elections were not free of incident. Allegations of foul play are popping up daily. Ballot boxes have been said to be dumped in various parts of the country.

Election f&#k ups : 

According to various reports, ballot boxes were found discarded in Lynnwood Ridge, Pretoria this morning. The IEC said they need to investigate the facts about the discarded ballot papers before they can decide if the incident affects the credibility of the election results. DA leader, Helen Zille, meanwhile, said an audit has found that the black bags with ballot papers were counted.

Zille also tweeted that the Gauteng ballots papers may have fallen off a truck but investigations into the incident are continuing. Most of the ballots were said to be  in favour of the DA.

Wait there’s more 

Discarded ballot boxes were also found in Pretoria, Alexandra and Diepsloot. The IEC has answer to that one too. They  say all ballots are counted in front of the party agents, who sign off on them before they’re stored. Two ballots boxes have been found hidden between shacks in Alexandra Johannesburg while the Economic Freedom Fighters also claims that a ballot box was dumped in Diepsloot.

Parties are outraged, the EFF and the IFP are accusing the ANC of vote rigging . Eye witnesses say an EFF member found a box of ballot papers at the entrance of the Thusong Service Centre yesterday morning. Later IFP members claimed that they had seen the ballot box being transported in an ANC vehicle. They claim they have evidence to support these allegations.  Meanwhile the IEC has been made aware of  IFP members that held ANC and IEC officials against their will yesterday.

Angry community members say they will  continue to protest if there isn’t an election re-run in the area.

Social media users  in Cape Town added pictures of what seems to be ballot boxes on a lawn in the Northern Suburbs. Some users commented on the picture saying they were photo-shopped, while others testify to having driven past it. That is besides the number of people saying that their ballots have already been pre-marked in favour of the ANC and DA respectively.  An official onsite at one of these incidents said that ‘sometimes the manufacturers mark the paper for money’. What does the IEC say to these particular allegations? They claim that those ballots were used for ‘voter education’.

Are these elections EFF- ups to be tolerated?

The EFF wants an audit to be done on the elections and the votes in Gauteng as they believe the IEC are in cahoots with the ANC. Some party members may be grasping at straws –  but isn’t the number of allegations enough to at least cast a shadow of doubt on the outcome of the election?

Your vote could have been among those that were dumped. How well has the IEC done at being the guardians of our vote?

Is this election free and fair? Surely that should be question. What do you think?

Tell us. #LiveVIPZA

The story of #Elections2014 continues.  Stick with #LiveVIPZA and we’ll give you analysis, debates, comments, polls and all you need to make it through the all-important task of VOTING during the 2014 elections.

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