The Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) has assured voters that anyone still in a queue when voting stations close at 9pm will be allowed to cast their ballots. This assurance came after reports of technical glitches with voter management devices (VDMs) causing delays and long queues at some voting stations in Cape Town. The IEC has deployed additional equipment and staff to ease congestion at affected stations.
In the Western Cape, IEC officials reported that by 12:30pm, 824,242 voters had been issued with ballots across the province, including 524,162 in the Cape Town metro. The IEC Western Cape provincial spokesperson Michael Hendricks said additional materials, including voting booths and VDMs, had been deployed to stations experiencing delays. He also stated that voting would continue until 9pm and urged voters to use the opportunity to cast their ballots.
The IEC's assurance that voters in queues at 9pm would still be allowed to vote was also echoed in KwaZulu-Natal, where IEC officials gave the same assurance after heavy rains washed away roads, delaying the opening of voting stations on the KZN South Coast. In KZN, IEC provincial officer Ntombifuthi Masinga reported that all stations in the province were operational, although delays affected the transport of voting materials to 50 stations in Ndwedwe, north of Durban.
However, the voting process in KZN was not without incidents. The IEC reported that a case of theft had been opened after two unused ballot boxes and a security pack were stolen in Ward 2 in eThekwini. KZN provincial police spokesperson Colonel Robert Netshiunda confirmed that police were investigating the incident and would also establish why ballot papers were transported to a voting station a night before the elections, and without police escort.
On the South Coast, access roads to three voting stations in the Umzumbe Local Municipality were washed away by heavy rains on Tuesday night, delaying the opening of the stations. ANC KZN provincial leader Mike Mabuyakhulu called on the IEC to ensure that people were not denied their right to vote due to problems at voting stations or in their areas.
Mabuyakhulu also expressed his party's disappointment at the alleged actions of MKP supporters on Tuesday. Although it did not mention the party by name, the IEC said in a report on Tuesday morning that supporters of a political party had tried to storm ballot-box storage facilities in Dassenhoek in eThekwini, as well as in Richmond and Pietermaritzburg. MKP provincial convener Willies Mchunu defended the party members' actions, saying they wanted to provide security at the ballot-box storage facilities.
Mchunu called on the IEC and police to reassure the public that their security measures were adequate so that people could be confident that no boxes were missing. The IEC and police are working to address the concerns and ensure the integrity of the elections.
Key points
- The IEC assured voters that anyone still in a queue when voting stations close at 9pm would be allowed to cast their ballots.
- Technical glitches with voter management devices caused delays and long queues at some voting stations in Cape Town.
- The IEC deployed additional equipment and staff to ease congestion at affected stations in the Western Cape.
