CAPE TOWN - The Electoral Commission of SA (IEC) was projecting a low voter turn-out in KwaZulu-Natal as service delivery protests took place in different parts of the province on Monday.
The province had four million registered voters and 4 940 voting stations, but after midday only 23% of the registered votes had been captured, although system glitches meant that the voting figures could increase.
At close to midday, voting at the Ntobeko Crèche Voting Station in KwaNyavu, in the Mkhambathini Local Municipality in KZN, got under way after part of the voting station was torched. A strong police presence ensured voting proceeded.
Members of the community, who live between Durban and Pietermaritzburg, flocked to the voting station as police visibility in the area ensured that threats made over the weekend against would-be voters and IEC staff members did not materialise.
Over the weekend community members padlocked some voting stations in the area as they demanded the reinstatement of their local chief. In a handwritten note outside one of the voting stations, a threat was made to any member of the community or electoral staff who attempted to gain access to the station.
“As we have said before that nobody will vote and we don’t expect the gate to be opened whether by a staff member or a voter. Go ahead and open it if you want to see what will happen (sic),” the note read.
Thabani Ngwira, the IEC spokesperson in KZN, confirmed that the voting station in KwaNyavu had opened late because of a dispute regarding traditional leadership.
“Voting station officers were not comfortable working at the station because they live in the area and were receiving threats, which made them feel unsafe. To resolve the situation, the IEC swapped staff around by sourcing personnel who live outside of the area to conduct voting station operations,” Ngwira said.
The IEC’s acting provincial electoral officer Ntombifuthi Masinga said during a briefing yesterday that in Umzinto the IEC had to find an alternative location for one of its polling stations after residents were allegedly threatened by some community members.
“We managed to open that voting station a bit late. It was the last one to open in the province after lunch today because we could not get a system to fill up trenches that were dug overnight in that voting station.
“Upon accessing it, we were then confronted with the threats that if we were to open it the community was going to burn it down because it's a community hall. So we have moved to another facility within the precinct of the voting station.
“In Ward 15 in Jozini, they blocked the road and they said the issue there was that there was no service delivery,” Masinga said.
The acting electoral officer said that despite the disruptions in the voting process, and whether 10 or 10 000 people voted, the IEC would produce a result.
The IEC also experienced challenges at voting stations in the uThukela region and in KwaMaphumulo, but these were quickly resolved with the help of the SAPS.
Cape Times