Hon Speaker, the IFP uncovered massive fraud in the run- up to the hotly contested by-election in Ward 12, Nongoma, KwaZulu-Natal. Our urgent application to have 525 fraudulently registered voters scrapped from the voters' roll was accepted and effected. It appears that students from a nearby FET college were registered and bribed to vote for our opponents, even though some of them lived hundreds of kilometres away in Pongola!
The Independent Electoral Commission, IEC, has announced that it will launch an internal investigation into the matter. The IFP welcomes the IEC investigation because, quite frankly, we as the IFP are sick and tired of voter fraud.
With the ANC and National Freedom Party relationship now at a dead end, and with the IFP winning almost all its by-elections in the province, including those wards that were formerly controlled by this alliance, the IFP's opposition is running scared. Desperate to cling to power, they have resorted to registering voters fraudulently in a desperate bid to win the by-election in Nongoma.
The IEC ruling and its intent to investigate this matter, vindicate the IFP's concerns over massive voter fraud that is part and parcel of the ANC- NFP political alliance in KwaZulu-Natal. The IFP is committed to free and fair elections, and where we find instances of voter fraud and corruption we will definitely bring them to the attention of the IEC.
Even in the face of all these actions, the IFP was the clear winner in the by-election yesterday. Our political opponents need to be reminded that a political victory can only be obtained democratically through the ballot box and not through underhanded shenanigans. It is clear that this ... Thank you. [Time expired.]