The queue to vote at CBC St John's in Cape Town's Parklands stretched the length of three football fields on Wednesday (Peter Ruhanga/GroundUp)
- South Africa's general election, held on Wednesday, was marred by several setbacks.
- The breakdown of the Voting Management Device (VMD) led to long queues and people leaving polling stations without voting.
- Find out everything you need to know about the 2024 general election in News24's election hub.
As frustrated voters queue to cast their ballots, the South African Electoral Commission (IEC) has decided to stop using problematic voter management devices.
The faulty equipment caused significant delays, long queues and increased the likelihood of a higher voter turnout, with thousands of people queuing to vote after 9pm at a polling station in the Western Cape.
Machine malfunctions caused long queues and led people to leave polling stations without voting.
The faulty voting machines were taken out of service and the voting process was switched to a fully manual system.
Stakeholders raised concerns about the problematic VMDs during a meeting with the IEC at 11 am. By 11 pm on Wednesday, the IEC decided to discontinue use of these devices.
But it was a little too late.
Read | 2024 Election: Why Cape Town's young people are heading to the polls
About 1000 voters were queuing in Bastion constituency in Brackenfell at 10.15pm, while in Vierlanden, Durbanville, about 2000 people queued for more than 2km.
Similar incidents occurred in Stellenbosch, where thousands of people queued at some polling stations until late into the night.
About 2,000 people queued to vote at a polling station in Mbekweni, Paarl County.
Voters also queued to cast their ballot in Parklands after 9pm.
Long queues were also seen in George in the Western Cape.
By 21:44, the IEC and security cluster decided to deploy additional resources to poorly lit areas.
Polling stations in some informal settlements were also affected by long queues, raising concerns for voters who had to return home in the dark.
Natalie de Stadler waited three hours at Curro Durbanville Primary School.
“It's very long, but I believe there is a way to the process. [voters] “We will improve it and reduce the wait time. If other queues are moving faster, we can improve and optimize the wait time,” she said.
De Stadler added that IEC officials had not informed residents about the long queues and wait times.
“It would have been much easier if we had a system that allowed us to vote online, or had some technology to speed it up a little bit,” she said.
The queue at the polling station at St John's School in Parklands, Cape Town, stretched for at least a kilometre along Parklands Main Road 30 minutes before closing time.
One volunteer said the polling station was understaffed and the equipment was running slowly, and people who had previously voted there were upset after long waits and then told they had to vote elsewhere.
“That discussion can take up to 15 minutes,” she said.
??? | We are still urging voters to queue in polling districts across the Western Cape. We need your vote to keep the DA in the Western Cape! If you are waiting in line, you can still vote.Keeping #WesternCapeDA going pic.twitter.com/WImrUrbeQQ
— DA Western Cape (@WesternCapeDA) May 29, 2024
Police vehicles and local police were parked at a distance.
DA provincial leader Terthuis Simmers said party members had raised concerns about the use of problematic voter management devices.
“Prime Minister Alan Winde and I visited Vierlanden in Durbanville where over 1000 people were still waiting to vote. It was 8:20pm, which means they were still in line. Before that, I was at Jan van Riebeek High School where our party's prime ministerial candidate was standing and waiting for three and a half hours. So the trouble started early on Wednesday morning,” he said.[AlanWindeandIvisitedVierlandeninDurbanvillewherethereweremorethanathousandpeoplestillwaitingtovoteandthatwasat8:20pmwhichmeanstheyarestillstandinginline EarlierIwasatJanvanRiebeekHighSchoolwherethePremiercandidateofourpartywasstandingandwaitingforthreeandahalfhoursSothetroublestartedearlieronWednesdaymorning”hesaid
Read | Confusion at polling stations prevented or delayed voting
Simmers also said party representatives had been bemoaning the use of VMD throughout the day and demanding a switch to a manual voting system.
“We saw local chairs taking the initiative and we saw queues getting clogged and moving quickly, so we saw voters getting stuck, backing up, queuing up to 2.5km in some areas, so I think they were being cautious.”
“It took some time before the decision was made to actually do it manually and the instruction was not given until 7.55pm,” he added.
“The Western Cape is the problem.”
EFF MP Susan Thembekwayo said vote control equipment had not worked all day, causing major voting problems at polling stations.
“This caused a big problem because that's the voting device that the voters use. So that caused a problem, so they had to split the voters up into maybe three or four groups. And if you're not in that alphabet of the same group, you couldn't get served in one line.
“We need to go to the second bar, this line tends to help certain people, so it ends up creating a problem and this problem is only in the Western Cape,” she said.
The ANC's Cameron Dugmore said the IEC had done its best to respond to voters' wishes.
“It doesn't reflect on the fairness of the election, but I think all voters, whether they live in leafy suburbs or in a rural town, had grievances that needed to be addressed,” he said.