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IEC quarantines ballot boxes at 2 Matsulu voting stations

Published

Ongoing: Elections Hot

Empty school hall with plain wooden voting booths in rows beside tall windows.

The Independent Electoral Commission in Mpumalanga set aside the boxes from the Enzani and Matsulu Primary Schools voting stations after claims that party representatives tampered with them. A decision on whether to count those ballots is still pending.

Provincial IEC spokesperson Thanduxolo Chembeni said it was agreed that the ballot boxes would be quarantined, and that this has been done. Counting continues at other voting stations during the local government elections. The claims of tampering came from unnamed reports, and the IEC has not confirmed them.

Cable theft also affected eight voting stations in Bushbuckridge. Those stations ran on generators.

Key facts

Who
Thanduxolo Chembeni (Provincial IEC spokesperson); Fhumulani Thovhagale (Local Electoral Officer); Agnes Sibande (73-year-old voter); Independent Electoral Commission (Electoral body that quarantined the ballot boxes and runs the election)
What
The IEC in Mpumalanga quarantined ballot boxes from the Enzani and Matsulu Primary Schools voting stations after allegations that political party representatives tampered with them. A decision on whether to count those ballots is pending, while counting continues elsewhere.
When
5 November 2026
Where
Matsulu, Mbombela, Mpumalanga
Status
Reported

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