POLLING stations in the Highveld region of Mpumalanga have requested extended voting hours as snags and staff shortages are preventing them from processing more than 100 voters per hour. IEC media spokesman Leon Mbangwa said on Wednesday afternoon that polling stations in the rural Moutse and Mbibane areas of the former KwaNdebele had requested that the cut-off deadline of 9.00pm be extended. “We are pushing other voting stations in the region that are on track to second staff to the problem areas,” said Mbangwa. He also confirmed that police had laid charges against an unnamed Piet Retief farmer who confiscated identity books from an estimated 60 labourers in the area after they refused to vote for his own party of choice. The labourers complained to the IEC, which laid charges and ordered police to recover the confiscated ID books.