Malema challenges integrity of Bosa signatures

EFF leader Julius Malema has cast doubt on the credibility of the signatures gathered by Mmusi Maimane’s Build One South Africa (Bosa), raising concerns about the verification process for political party signatures required by the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC).

During a media briefing in Johannesburg on Friday, Malema questioned the validity of the 140 000 signatures obtained by Bosa.

His remarks have triggered scrutiny of the signature verification process required by the IEC.

The IEC mandated that new political parties vying in national and provincial elections submit 60 000 signatures to feature on all three ballot papers.

“Systems need to be put in place to verify the authenticity of signatures. The EFF has approached the IEC, requesting that it patch loopholes that are allegedly allowing political parties to submit fake and unverified signatures,” Malema said.

He added that the chapter nine institution was not able to provide tangible proof that signatures submitted by political organisations were indeed real.

“How are we going to know who those signatures belong to because those names are not going to be published?

“The EFF plans to escalate the matter further with the IEC,” Malema said.

The IEC has reportedly left it in the hands of Parliament to deal with any cases of forgery during the collection of signatures.

Maimane said Bosa was growing in all communities.

“Our candidates are engaged with citizens across the country and have managed to garner signatures, so for Malema to worry about signatures that he can inspect, he must explain to the IEC how, with no declarations, he funded the manifesto launch.

“There simply can’t be enough cigarettes sold to cover the event,” he said.

The Star

nobukhosi.tshabalala@inl.co.za