DURBAN – Slow voter turnout was worrying at Camperdown voting stations according to the IEC’s Silo Ngubane.
Speaking to The Mercury at midday, Ngubane said while things were going well, it was worrying that the turnout was very slow compared to other voting stations.
“This is a centre where we were expecting more voters to come but the voters are not coming the way that they were supposed to come,” he said.
Ngubane said there is high police presence in the area and that staff would be safe.
“We do not think that we are going to have a problem during the day but we are not sure about at night,” he said.
He added that they were seeing more elderly people coming out to vote instead of the youth.
It is believed that the poor turn out was due to the dispute over the traditional leadership in the area. Residents on Sunday said that tensions were high in the area and some were reluctant to vote.
The stations, located within the KwaNyavu Traditional Authority area, have been unable to operate fully since the elections began because of threats from the community.
By mid-afternoon yesterday, the voting stations at the Inkanyezini Primary School and Nobhala school had recorded poor turnout numbers, which concerned election officials in the area.
But at the Ntobeko Creche voting station, community members braved the threats and came out in numbers, despite the station having been set alight overnight.
The area has been under siege over the past few days, with community members taking advantage of the local government elections to try and force the provincial government to reinstate local Inkosi Skhosiphi Mdluli.
Mdluli was removed from his position last year by the provincial government.
Presiding officer at the Nobhala voting station, Sthembiso Mdluli said his station had 579 people registered as eligible to vote, but by mid-afternoon only 35 had voted.
He said they had not experienced any problems when the station opened.
He later told the The Mercury that people were trickling in, but the station will not match its previous numbers.
Ngubane said he was very concerned about the voting numbers at the two stations, compared to numbers at other stations not affected by the threats.
He said the Inkanyezi station had 1902 eligible voters, but only about 98 had turned up to vote by midday.
“Inkanyezini is the biggest station, with 1902 voters registered, but so far only about 98 people have come to vote. It's clear that the community is fearful and I am concerned that if the community is afraid to come out and vote during the day, the situation will be much worse during the evening,” he said.
Two youths, who declined to be named, spoke to The Mercury about the intimidation that has been happening in the area, and said a lot of people would choose self preservation to voting.
“In the past few days there had been a lot of random gunfire and people are afraid, they will not come out and vote,” said one youth.
The sentiment was shared by another resident who voted at the Ntobeko Creche station.
The station was set alight by unknown people. One room was gutted, but the rest of the building could still be used and the IEC staff were able to continue with the voting process.
The station was packed, with a queue of voters stretching out the gate.
There was also a very large police presence, some inside the grounds of the voting station, while others were in vehicles outside.
“The situation here is very tense, and I would be very surprised if anything about me was revealed (if a journalist released my details),'' the resident said, warning journalists not to name him.
“These people ( making all the threats) come after you, they will not do anything while there are all these activities, they will wait until you have forgotten and then they take you out,” he said.
THE MERCURY