JOHANNESBURG - The Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) has assured voters that unused ballots stolen from a voting station in Hillcrest, KwaZulu-Natal, cannot be used fraudulently.
IEC Chairperson Mosotho Moepya says the commission knows which ballots were stolen and the area they were intended for, allowing it to put measures in place to prevent them from entering the electoral process.
READ: IEC reports theft of unmarked ballot papers at KZN voting station
He said the commission would not disclose the specific security measures being implemented but assured South Africans that the ballots would be identified if anyone attempted to use them.
“There is no way those ballots will find their way back without us knowing about them,” Moepya said.
KwaZulu-Natal Police Commissioner Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi says the theft could have been prevented through closer cooperation between law enforcement and the IEC.
“After this incident, we’ll have to debrief between the cluster and IEC, so that we can improve the cooperation going forward,” he said.
READ: KZN police record 18 election-related cases, seven arrests
The security cluster reflected on Wednesday on measures put in place to safeguard the local government elections.
Mkhwanazi said authorities needed to ensure the secure movement of sensitive election material between the police and the IEC.