Millions of enthusiastic voters turned out for the poll this week, but many were met with errors on the voters’ roll which prevented them from voting, writes Gaye Davis
A NEW era of local government dawned for South Africa this week as millions of voters flocked to the polls, defying predictions that apathy would keep them at home. But administrative errors in compiling voters’ rolls prevented countless voters from voting and may cast a shadow over the poll.
In a pattern which played itself out across the country, thousands of voters arrived at polling stations only to find their names did not appear on voters’ rolls. For them, Wednesday brought frustration and disappointment.
Apart from resulting in artificially low percentage polls, voters’ roll confusion could impact on the fortunes of political parties, particularly in narrowly contested areas, and raise questions about the legitimacy of the poll.
Eastern Cape MEC for local government Max Mamase mooted the possibility of by-elections to address the problem after hundreds of thousands of voters were turned away from voting stations in the former Transkei. But Commonwealth technical advisor Brian McAndrew told Ecna that given the region’s transport difficulties, poor communications and poverty the election effort had been ”bloody brilliant”.
Idasa’s elections information manager Liz Findlay said the organisation’s Johannesburg office had been flooded with about 14 000 calls from voters complaining about being left off rolls or being put on the wrong roll.
”We had complaints from every inch of the country,” Findlay said. Most came from voters in the Greater Johannesburg and Vaal metropolitan areas: she believed this could explain the low 30 percent turnout predicted for the area early yesterday and said Idasa would be investigating.
”We don’t suspect deliberate sabotage. Perhaps the fault lies with the computer system or the programmers,” Findlay said. ”But the fact is that many people lost the chance to vote. This will have an impact politically and could well raise questions of legitimacy.”
The ANC’s deputy secretary-general Cheryl Carolus, MP Carl Niehaus and South African Council of Churches’ general secretary Brigalia Bam were among those who could not vote as their names did not appear. All had checked they were registered.
ANC national elections commission chair Saki Macozoma said the ANC made a last-ditch request on Wednesday to the Ministry of Constitutional Development to allow tendered ballots, but this was refused.
Macozoma said the problem could explain a low turnout in the North-West Province, where fewer than one-third of registered voters cast ballots, although intimidation of farmworkers by farmowners could also be a factor.
Transforming local government — the ”hands and feet” of the RDP — depends on new councillors and local authorities being seen as legitimate, hence the need for a high voter turnout. Without it, new councillors could feel politically insecure about carrying out one of their key functions: persuading residents to pay for rates and services. And residents could continue to regard new structures as illegitimate.
Voters’ roll omissions aside, Macozoma declared the ANC was ”elated” by the way the poll had gone: ”At 90 percent of voting stations things went very well”.
Early indications yesterday were that the ANC had made significant gains in the Western Cape, turning around a coloured vote that in last year’s general election secured the province for the National Party.
”The ANC did not abandon coloured voters after the previous election results, despite some voices arguing they were not worth spending resources on. Instead, we identified the problems and tried to deal with them and we are now reaping the fruits of that. It’s a triumph for non-racialism.” Macozoma said. Macozoma criticised the election’s managers, however, of a ”rule-bound” approach which meant a lack of flexibility in dealing with grievances and political problems, ranging from the late arrival of ballot papers and shortages of paraphernalia, to a polling station being struck by lightning. ”We think the inflexibility in response to problems has cost us a lot of votes,” Macozoma said.
Frederik van Zyl Slabbert, co-chairman of the elections task group, said rules governing the election were negotiated by political parties. The elections had to take place within ”enormous constraints” in terms of time and planning. ”We can organise the elections up to a point and don’t claim to be perfect — but in the final analysis, everything depends on the co-operation of the political parties. In a perfect world we would have had two or three years to prepare properly.”
Fears of unregistered voters invading polling stations, and of taxi blockades and political tensions substantially disrupting the poll, failed to materialise, though isolated incidents caused voting stations to be closed in some areas, and delays in delivering ballot papers and equipment caused lengthy hold-ups.