Zuko Komisa
- The Electoral Court has reserved judgment in the MK Party’s case against the IEC over the 2024 election results.
- The MK Party claims a two-hour results dashboard blackout was deliberate manipulation, not a simple glitch.
- The IEC strongly denies the allegations, maintaining the fault was purely technical and the vote count remained secure.
The Electoral Court in Johannesburg has reserved judgment after hearing arguments from the uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) Party and the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC).
The legal battle focuses specifically on a two-hour period when the public results dashboard went offline during the 2024 national elections.
Advocate Thabani Masuku, representing the MK Party, argued that the court must call technical experts to probe the blackout.
The party alleges the system failure was not an innocent malfunction but a deliberate act of manipulation that compromised the integrity of the vote count.
They stressed that a formal investigation is vital for democracy, stating that:
“Without this evidence, the public will never know whether the final election results were fair and accurate.”
The IEC has strongly denied any wrongdoing, dismissing the claims as an attempt to reopen a certified election.
Commission lawyers maintained that the glitch was purely technical, quickly resolved, and had zero impact on the secure, verified vote count.
The judges will now review the submitted papers before delivering a final judgment, which could either dismiss the application or order an extensive forensic hearing into the system failure.
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