IEC tightens ballot checks after theft at eThekwini voting station - IOL
IEC KZN provincial electoral officer Ntombifuthi Masinga and national strategic stakeholder liaison officer Mawethu Mosery brief the media on the theft at a voting station in eThekwini.
Unused ballot papers and election security materials were stolen overnight from Mnyameni Secondary School in Ward 2, eThekwini.
The Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) in KwaZulu-Natal has implemented swift risk mitigation measures to safeguard the integrity of the 2026 Local Government Elections.
Despite the security breach at Mnyameni Secondary School, officials ensured voting operations proceeded by deploying updated authentication stamps and bolstering verification protocols across affected areas.
IEC KZN provincial electoral officer Ntombifuthi Masinga reported that there was a theft of unused ballots and election security materials, including certified voters’ roll, were reported stolen at the Mnyameni Secondary School, Ward 2 in eThekwini, overnight.
She said the voting station had sufficient materials to continue operations, bar the voters roll that needed to be reprinted for the voting station. Moreover, they issued a new security pack and ballot papers for election day. A case of theft has been opened.
“The security pack is a very critical piece of material that comes sealed in the morning at the voting station. One of the most important pieces of material in that pack is a stamp that we use to authenticate the ballot paper,” Masinga explained.
“The stamp that was used in this voting station, which was stolen, together with the materials that were stolen at that voting station last night, is that security stamp.
“With the new stamp being issued today, we are able to differentiate a ballot paper that is stamped with an authentic stamp authorised for use today and the stamp that was issued yesterday, but probably the person who may have stolen those ballots does not know that they believe that we keep the same stamp.”
Masinga said that even IEC staff are unaware of the stamp number until they open a security pack that came sealed on election day.
She said that as a risk mitigation measure across all 20 voting stations in Ward 2 — where the stolen ballots could potentially resurface — they are enhancing their evening ballot verification process. Instead of just checking that ballots are stamped, officials in eThekwini will verify that each ballot features the authentic stamp issued specifically for election day.
Masinga explained that they met with political parties to train them, and also asked them to train their party agents, because they were not only checking if the ballot is stamped, but if the stamp is the correct one for election day.
This is to identify if anyone tries to reintroduce stolen ballots into the voting station. They would have stamped them with the wrong stamp that they issued on Tuesday.
“We have asked all the political parties to be on alert both for the ward ballots in Ward 2, but for all other voting stations in the metro, because the PR (proportional-representation) ballot is the same for the entire metro,” Masinga said.
“There’s a PR ballot which may surface anywhere in the metro. And we are telling people to be vigilant to ensure that the stamp, the number of that stamp that is used, is the correct number for each voting station in eThekwini Metro.”
Masinga said they are comfortable with the checks and balances to ensure that anyone who may lay a hand on the ballot paper and utilise the ballot paper that is not issued by their officials at the voting station will be easily identifiable because it will have the wrong stamp when they start the count.
She added that election officials prepared 5 028 KZN voting stations to open at 7am for 6 022 350 voters in the 2026 Local Government Elections.
She said that while the majority of the voting stations opened on time, about 50 in Ndwedwe experienced delays due to logistical issues and three in Umzumbe because of inaccessible roads, but the SAPS and SANDF are helping.
