DA Federal Council chairperson Helen Zille has opened a case of assault against a police officer, after she was seen being dragged out of the Fernwood Primary School voting station in Bethelsdorp.

DA communications director Richard Newton said ANC observers at a voting station in Gqeberha had accused her of canvassing for votes minutes before she was taken out of the facility by police.

“It is alleged that on 1 November 2021 at about 12:30, DA party agent Helen Zille was at the Fernwood Primary School voting station in Bethelsdorp. According to Ms Zille, due to the long queue, she walked down the line asking people to wait,” Newton said.

Zille further said that, when she got to the front of the queue, the ANC observers accused her of canvassing.

“She then alleged that a Warrant Officer Botha instructed her to leave the premises and threatened to arrest her and put her in the back of a police vehicle.

“She was ‘frog-marched’ out of the premises and the police officer twisted her arm and continued pushing her.

“The cellphone that her colleague was using to film the incident was allegedly taken by Botha,” Newton said.

Zille went to the police station in Bethelsdorp and opened a case of assault.

IPID spokesperson Grace Langa said an investigator was trying to get hold of Zille after she opened a case of assault against a police officer. 

She said Zille had been unreachable by phone. Langa said a thorough investigation into the incident would follow. 

A cellphone video recording showed  Zille being dragged out of the voting station in Bethelsdorp by a police officer. 

Taking to her Facebook page on Monday night, Zille said her tasks for the day had been to greet voters and “walk the queues”.

“It involves encouraging people to stay in the queue, no matter how long it takes and how frustrated they get, so that they can cast their vote rather than go home,” she posted.

She said she was very careful to ensure she did not canvas anywhere within the IEC’s boundary line.

‘I tried to rip myself free’

At the primary school, she had found a very long queue and worked out the hold-up was due to the apparently slow manual input of ID numbers into a tablet.

“I then tried to establish how long the voting would take by timing this interaction on my phone’s stop-watch. I positioned myself two meters from where this device was being used to manually capture ID numbers. I did not interfere with a single voter, nor with any officer performing his or her duties. I merely timed the process,” she said.

“The shortest time it took to capture an ID number was 30 seconds. The longest was 90 seconds. Multiplying the average by the number of people in the queue, I calculated that it would take about 4-5 hours for the people at the back of the queue to get to the front. Ms Latola [the presiding officer] then told me to leave the voting station. I said I had the required authorisation to be there, and then suggested that she use her authority to divide the queue on the basis of alphabetical surnames, as had happened in a nearby Voting Station.”

Zille left the voting station and returned later on to find the queue longer and no double queue system implemented.

“Once again, I walked up the queue from the back, thanking people for coming, and asking them to stay in the queue, even though many of them had been waiting for hours. When I made my way to the front of the queue, two of the ANC party agents told me to stop canvassing in the queue. I told them I was not canvassing, I was urging people to stay in the queue despite their intense frustration at the inordinate delay.”

She said she approached Latola again, who allegedly accused her of canvassing.

“A burly policeman, Warrant Officer A Botha, approached and before I could say a word, he instructed me to leave. I presented my authorisation, and said I had a right to be there. With that he instructed me to leave, grabbed me and frog-marched me out of the building. I told him to let me go or I would charge him with assault,” she said.

“I tried to rip myself free of his grasp, but he was very powerful and frog-marched me all the way to the gate. My colleague filmed the last segment of his violence, at which point he lunged over and grabbed her cellphone. She tried to get it back, but he turned and went into the building.”

Zille said she had opened a case at Bethelsdorp police station and then returned to the voting station, where she was given a dispute form to fill out.

“The delays today at the Fernwood Park Primary Voting Station were clearly deliberate, and scores of voters left without voting in this DA stronghold.  The same, apparently, applies in many other places,” she said.

Zille went to the police station in Bethelsdorp and opened a case of assault.

IPID spokesperson Grace Langa said an investigator was trying to get hold of Zille after she opened a case of assault against a police officer. 

She said Zille had been unreachable by phone. Langa said a thorough investigation into the incident would follow. 

A cellphone video recording showed  Zille being dragged out of the voting station in Bethelsdorp by a police officer. 

Taking to her Facebook page on Monday night, Zille said her tasks for the day had been to greet voters and “walk the queues”.

“It involves encouraging people to stay in the queue, no matter how long it takes and how frustrated they get, so that they can cast their vote rather than go home,” she posted.

She said she was very careful to ensure she did not canvas anywhere within the IEC’s boundary line.

‘I tried to rip myself free’

At the primary school, she had found a very long queue and worked out the hold-up was due to the apparently slow manual input of ID numbers into a tablet.

“I then tried to establish how long the voting would take by timing this interaction on my phone’s stop-watch. I positioned myself two meters from where this device was being used to manually capture ID numbers. I did not interfere with a single voter, nor with any officer performing his or her duties. I merely timed the process,” she said.

“The shortest time it took to capture an ID number was 30 seconds. The longest was 90 seconds. Multiplying the average by the number of people in the queue, I calculated that it would take about 4-5 hours for the people at the back of the queue to get to the front. Ms Latola [the presiding officer] then told me to leave the voting station. I said I had the required authorisation to be there, and then suggested that she use her authority to divide the queue on the basis of alphabetical surnames, as had happened in a nearby Voting Station.”

Zille left the voting station and returned later on to find the queue longer and no double queue system implemented.

“Once again, I walked up the queue from the back, thanking people for coming, and asking them to stay in the queue, even though many of them had been waiting for hours. When I made my way to the front of the queue, two of the ANC party agents told me to stop canvassing in the queue. I told them I was not canvassing, I was urging people to stay in the queue despite their intense frustration at the inordinate delay.”

She said she approached Latola again, who allegedly accused her of canvassing.

“A burly policeman, Warrant Officer A Botha, approached and before I could say a word, he instructed me to leave. I presented my authorisation, and said I had a right to be there. With that he instructed me to leave, grabbed me and frog-marched me out of the building. I told him to let me go or I would charge him with assault,” she said.

“I tried to rip myself free of his grasp, but he was very powerful and frog-marched me all the way to the gate. My colleague filmed the last segment of his violence, at which point he lunged over and grabbed her cellphone. She tried to get it back, but he turned and went into the building.”

Zille said she had opened a case at Bethelsdorp police station and then returned to the voting station, where she was given a dispute form to fill out.

“The delays today at the Fernwood Park Primary Voting Station were clearly deliberate, and scores of voters left without voting in this DA stronghold.  The same, apparently, applies in many other places,” she said