Voters gathered at a polling station at Glenwood Primary School in Durban. (Sakiseni Nxumalo)
- The South African Electoral Commission oversaw three days of voting, but it was not without trouble in Durban and protests took place in other parts of KwaZulu-Natal.
- Several politician He criticized the committee for technical problems and confusion.
- Everything you need to know about the 2024 general election on News24 Election Hub.
While some political leaders lamented the problems that plagued the voting process in Durban, the South African Electoral Commission (IEC) said they were not minor issues that would have prevented people from voting.
Tanasaglen Moodley, an independent candidate in KwaZulu-Natal, said there had been problems at the polling station where she voted.
“One of the main issues was the system. [had to] “As we moved from one centre to another, the other centres had the same issues,” Moodley said.
“The people on earth [IEC’s] device.”
He, however, commended the IEC for quickly resolving the issue.
“Most of the complaints are [by] They were the ones who reached out to me online to give me advice, so I can't really blame them on that.”
DA provincial chair Dean MacPherson said the IEC appeared to be failing to:
It is truly unbelievable that the voter management machine is not working and we have to create the voter roll manually.
“The lack of foresight in what should have been a simple process really frustrated voters. I commend the District Attorney's Office for making voters wait in line for hours. Voters should not have been forced to go through that.”
ANC provincial secretary Bheki Mtlo said the system was offline for “most of the time” on Monday, the first day of the special vote.
“He failed to win the support of the voters,” Mutolo added. [Voters] It was rejected. Some of the chairs were inexperienced. This is just chaos and serious incompetence. [and] Long waiting times [up to] 20 minutes per person.
Asked about the glitches, IEC provincial spokesperson Thabani Ngwira confirmed reports that the office was unable to print approved S24A lists and that the Voting Management Device (VMD) app had not been updated.
A Section 24A application allows voters to vote at a polling station where they are not registered to vote.
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Ngwira said the IEC had assured voters that the voting process would not be delayed due to technical glitches at the VMD.
“Voting will be done manually. Hard copies of voters' ballots will be [roll] “If a pre-approved list of Section 24A cases is present at a polling station, voting will proceed unhindered,” he said.
He added that all the special polling stations in the state with approved special voting applications were operational but not all were opened on time.
“Where delays occurred, the issues causing the delays have been resolved and all polling stations that were scheduled to be opened for the special vote have been opened,” Ngwira said.
Incidents where tents were not set up on time, such as ward 68 in eThekwini and ward 5 in Umzimkhulu, which was disrupted by service delivery protests, were resolved and voting continued unhindered.
“We received a report that at the storage site where we were storing materials overnight, people claiming to be representatives of a political party had followed the area manager and demanded that he camp on the premises of the storage facility. The situation was defused by the South African Police Service.”
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Ngwira said 96 per cent of the 4,974 polling stations were open by 7am on Wednesday.
“The delay in opening is a result of incidents such as the failure of police to escort staff transporting sensitive materials (eThekwini, Uthukela, Mtubatuba, Jozini, Ugu districts, Umzumbe and Ubuhlebezwe) and service delivery protests in Umziwabantu wards 2 and 8,” Ngwira said.
Three polling stations were affected, with the last to open at 10.30am.
The polling station at Lenkasi Secondary School was opened following the intervention of Umziwabantu Mayor Siboniso Zungu.
Ngwira said two polling stations in Newcastle's 34th ward were blocked by political parties, forcing authorities to open them with an hour's delay.
In Ward 7, Eshowe, the Regional Manager was blocked by political parties at the entrance to the committee’s storage facility.
“The situation was contained by police,” Ngwira added.
