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TENSIONS were high in Alexandra Township on Thursday as Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) supporters barricaded the Oliver Tambo parliamentary constituency office, which housed an Electoral Commission of SA (IEC) voting station and African National Congress (ANC) election agents.

The ANC on Thursday accused about 200 disgruntled IFP supporters of holding its agents and IEC staff hostage.

But the IFP denied the claim, saying its supporters wanted to know why the ANC agents and the IEC officials had offices in the same building.

The IFP supporters took exception to this arrangement and accused the ANC of colluding with the IEC.

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ANC chairman in the area Mpho Moerane said the governing party and the IEC were renting space in the building for election purposes, but the offices functioned independently.

Wednesday’s general election has arguably been the most challenging for the IEC yet, as some opposition parties questioned its credibility.

Yesterday afternoon, the police and national leaders of the IFP calmed the party’s supporters. Gauteng police commissioner L t-Gen Lesetja Mothiba was also present.

ANC constituency office administrator Charlotte Manthosi said the group was calmed and the situation resolved on Thursday afternoon after police and IFP leadership arrived.

"We had to get the national IFP involved and the police involved. Our national ANC officers deployed people. No arrests have been made as yet and we hope the issues can be fully resolved," she said.

However, IFP representative Muzi Ntuli said the ANC’s allegation that its agents and IEC staff were taken hostage was baffling.

"Our members raised queries with the IEC about irregularities in the election process and the IEC failed to respond. Situations such as ANC-branded cars carrying ballot boxes have them concerned. But if you say that it was a hostage situation then you are talking about something else."

Mr Ntuli said the IFP and ANC would meet residents in Alexandra on Monday "to find a way forward".

Gauteng police spokesman Neville Malila said Lt-Gen Mothiba attended to the matter in Alexandra on Thursday but "there was no hostage situation".