The Electoral Commission (IEC) is taking legal steps against individuals and political parties it blames for intimidation, disruption and damage to election materials, it said on Tuesday.
Chief Electoral Officer Sy Mamabolo spoke at a media briefing in Midrand on the second and final day of special voting for the local elections. He said the commission had noted “a sharp increase in actions of prohibited conduct and glaring criminal behaviour by some political party supporters and candidates”, ranging from intimidation of election officials to tampering with election materials.
The two incidents
Mamabolo cited two cases, according to the SAnews report of the briefing. He said that in Mpumalanga an Economic Freedom Fighters candidate for Ward 30 entered a voting station in the Phake Rankaile voting district and damaged election materials. He said the police arrested the candidate.
In KwaZulu-Natal, he said, uMkhonto we Sizwe Party supporters forced their way into the Dasenhoek Library satellite warehouse, which stores election materials, and held officials hostage. He said Public Order Police were called to the scene, the group left peacefully after talking to the police, and the officials and materials were secured.
The SAnews report did not carry a response from either party. The incidents are the commission’s account.
Source: Electoral Commission briefing of 3 November 2026, as reported by SAnews. Shares of 34 complaints. Chart: Rand Desk
Mamabolo said the conduct “cannot be justified nor be allowed to impair the country’s democratic processes”. He appealed to all contesting parties and candidates to follow the code of conduct until the end of the election process.
Turnout and complaints
Stations opened on time at 08:00 on the second day and were due to close at 17:00, the commission said, while home-visit teams kept to their schedule. By midday, more than 1.3 million voters had cast special votes. Our report on the first day of special voting covers the opening.
Mamabolo also said the commission’s information integrity hub had, over the previous 24 hours, found growing attempts to undermine confidence in the process on social media. He said videos of presiding officers moving special vote ballots from carrying boxes into the main ballot box, after home visits, were being shared without context alongside claims of fraud. The commission urged people to check the context before sharing, and to report false or misleading content, including AI-generated material, at www.real411.org.za.
The Real411 platform had registered 34 complaints covering misinformation, incitement to violence, hate speech and harassment, the commission said. Twitter / X accounted for 58.8% of them, TikTok for 23.5%, and Facebook and WhatsApp for 8.8% each.
The commission said it had already acted on election officials who fell short of their duties, and asked parties that spot problems to use the established reporting channels so it can respond.
Voters go to the polls on Wednesday, 4 November.
