Hon Speaker, the DA has been informed that the Department of Social Development had embarked on the profiling exercise, focusing only on the nine wards in which the 18 September by-elections will be held. Officials from Klerksdorp, Wolmaransstad and Ventersdorp were instructed to work in Potchefstroom, but only in the by-election wards. Some of the officials approached the DA on an anonymous basis for fear of being victimised. These officials were instructed that profiling must be completed before the by-elections in order for food parcels to be distributed exactly in the same way as the 7 August by-election in Ward 9 in the Tlokwe Municipality.
It appears that the Minister, Bathabile Dlamini, is unfazed by the public outcry about her abuse of state resources during this August's by-election when she was involved in the distribution of 400 food parcels in Ward 9 at a ratio of one food parcel for every two ANC votes.
The Minister should explain why officials from Dr Kenneth Kaunda District have been deployed in the ANC voting districts of the nine wards to be contested during the 18 September by-elections. This action by the Minister may appear to be benevolent, but it is evident that in itself it is an attempt at vote rigging. Moreover, voters recognised the reason for this behaviour.