In Mpumalanga, voter turnout in the 2024 national and provincial elections fell by more than 7% compared to the 2019 national and provincial elections.
According to the Electoral Commission (IEC), data from Mpumalanga province showed that about 58 percent of the more than 223,000 people on the province's voter roll turned out to vote.
State Electoral Officer Gugu Langa says a number of incidents during this year's election took place in the Bushbuckridge area.
“I now call on the Bushbuckridge team, who are IEC celebrities, because there are incidents in Bushbuckridge every election. In 2021, we escorted them here to count in Mbombela. In 2024, we escorted them here to count. We were forced to escort them because our members did not want contested ballot boxes to be counted,” Langa says.
Residents of Mpumalanga shared some of their thoughts on the election.
“I don't understand why people still vote for the ANC when it doesn't live up to expectations. Thirty years on and it still doesn't live up to expectations. I'm happy that MK and the DA are still a bit higher up the ranks.”
Another resident added: “I'm happy because the ANC won, but the problem is their low vote count. I think this is a wake-up call for them to right their wrongs. I think a lot of people didn't vote for them not because they dislike the party, but because they want them to right their wrongs.”
2024 Election | MK Party pushes EFF to third place in Mpumalanga
