ANC in food-for-votes scandal

HUNGRY Duncan Village residents have been promised food parcels by the ANC in return for votes. A Saturday Dispatch investigation this week found a woman, presumably acting on the orders of the ruling party, taking people’s ID numbers in exchange for a promise of a food parcel if they voted for the ANC in the coming elections.

FOOD PLEASE: Here’s my ID so can I sign up for a parcel for my vote? Picture: NIGEL LOUW

Ntomboxolo Mayekiso, 47, who is unemployed, told the Daily Dispatch that she registered her name and ID number with a woman by the name of Phumla Balekile, who told her she would be given food by the ANC if she registered.

“ (Phumla) did not say what kind of food they will give us or when it will be delivered. All we know is that we are getting food,” she said.

Mayekiso said she registered for the food parcel after she heard from her neighbours that people were going to get food if they signed up.

“I think the ANC will call for a community meeting once the food has arrived,” she said yesterday.

But another resident, who did not want to be named because she feared for her safety, said she and a friend went to Balekile’s house to register on Tuesday only to be turned away because they belonged to the Congress of the People (Cope).

“I was really disturbed to hear that I could not get food for my family because I belong to Cope. We want food because we are hungry; there are many other people who need this food, it is not just ANC people.”

When the Dispatch visited Balekile’s home in Bomela Street on Wednesday, she was seated next to a small pile of ID books and a black notebook she used to write down ID numbers and names.

There were people coming in and out of her shack wanting to sign up for the food parcels during the visit. “You cannot register here because you do not live in this area but I am sure there is someone in your area who will sign you up,” said Balekile to the Dispatch reporter.

She said the criteria for signing up was that a person must be a resident in either Bomela or Bengu street – and must also be a member of the ANC.

In a tape recorded conversation, Balekile said: “There is nothing wrong with giving poor unemployed ANC people food.”

Balekile refused to say who she was working for but confirmed that voters were promised food parcels by her “seniors”. “I do not know when or what kind of food they are going to give us but I think it will be some time next week,” she said.

Provincial electoral officer for the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) Dr Bongani Finca said while what Balekile was doing may seem repugnant “there is nothing in the Electoral Act or in the Code of Conduct for Political Parties that deals specifically with promising voters food, or any other benefit.

“The IEC does not have control on the promises that political parties give to voters to woo them to vote for them. The only thing that we guarantee the voter is that his/her vote is a secret and nobody will ever know who you voted for,” he said.

ANC provincial communications official Mcebisi Jonas denied the ANC had promised to give people food parcels in exchange for votes. “We have no knowledge of this.”

Cope provincial spokesperson Nkosifikile Gqomo condemned the practice as “unethical”.

University of Cape Town political analyst Zwelethu Jolobe said: “Where things can get problematic is if the distribution of public goods is made on the basis of political party loyalty.”