A crowd of about 100 people opposed to an upcoming by-election disrupted Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) officials from registering voters and damaged an IEC bakkie in a rural Mpumalanga village on Sunday.

“They damaged one IEC bakkie and another vehicle belonging to an ANC [African National Congress] representative who was trying to intervene,” IEC provincial electoral officer Steven Ngwenya said. He did not provide details of the damage to the bakkie.

“The police arrived and took control of the situation. Our officials managed to register a number of voters.”

Ngwenya told the African News Agency (ANA) that the fracas broke out at Sihlangene Primary School in Two-line Village near Siyabuswa in the Dr JS Moroka local municipality. When ANA arrived at the school on Sunday afternoon a crowd of about 100 residents were still trying to force their way into the premises. They were stopped by heavily armed police officers who held a long and heated discussion with them.

Ngwenya said the by-election would be held on March 8 following a court ruling which set aside the election of ward 11 African National Congress councillor Charlie Skhosana, who was elected during the August 3 municipal elections last year. He said the Electoral Court made the ruling after defeated independent candidate Lucas Mahlangu launched civil proceedings challenging the election result.

“It all started when about 50 old ladies who did not apply for special votes arrived at one voting station on August 2, 2016, and wanted to vote,” Ngwenya said.

“Political parties persuaded the presiding officer to allow them to vote. They were allowed to vote and they did not vote again on August 3 as their names were cancelled from the voters’ roll. Our officials are safe and I can assure the people that they will vote on March 8.”

Mahlangu said he had gone to court because he believed the election was rigged. “You cannot allow people to vote as special voters even though they were not registered for that.

“I went to court because I was not assisted when I tried to lodge a formal objection with the IEC. I don’t think this voter registration disruption was carried out by the residents. It might be the work of some people with hidden agendas. I have many supporters in this ward and I am definitely sure that I will win in March,” he said.

While police were preventing the crowd from entering Sihlangene Primary School on Sunday afternoon, voter registration went smoothly at Thabang Primary School in KwaMagula village, about 10km away in the same ward.

“A number of KwaMagula residents condemned the disruption of voter registration in Two-Line village and insisted that they would vote for Mahlangu in the coming by-election. The court made a right decision because our councillor [Skhosana] does not even fix our roads,” resident Mavis Sibanyoni said.

Skhosana declined to comment and referred enquiries to the ANC. Provincial ANC secretary Mandla Ndlovu said his party was ready to contest the by-election. “We cannot rig the elections because we don’t manage them. We are participating,” he said.

Siyabuswa police spokesperson Captain Zandile Gqawa said no arrests had been made and police were still monitoring the situation.