Long queues, plain sailing

Although long queues were reported across the country on Wednesday morning, South Africa’s third general elections got off to a smooth start, with no major logistical problems reported, says Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) chairperson Dr Brigalia Bam.

“Reports of the enthusiasm of South Africa’s voters has been amazing. There have been reports of people arriving at poll stations very early in the morning. We have had reports of people in rural areas that have been walking since 3am this morning to reach voting stations,” said Bam.

“The day we have been waiting for finally came. What we have seen in the last few hours is most encouraging,” said Bam.

Advocate Pansy Tlakula, the IEC chief electoral officer, said voting kicked off well in all provinces and that there were “minor problems”.

She said that by mid-morning, 98% of the polling stations were open and that there were no major logistical problems. In some provinces the opening of polling stations was delayed due to voters’ rolls not being available, but in most of these cases the problem was resolved and voting had started by mid-morning.

In Limpopo, all stations except for two opened on time. One of the stations didn’t open because the electoral officer’s car had broken down.

There were reports on Tuesday of an IEC officer wearing party gear at a polling station in Limpopo. Tlakula said the official concerned was relieved of his duties and that there had been no similar incidents.

In KwaZulu-Natal most polling stations opened on time except for Pietermaritzburg where there were delays.

Bam said the IEC was awaiting a formal report from mediators in the province on reported conflict in the area. She said the province had deployed 45 mediators and more than 2 500 observers in province. National Police Commissioner Jackie Selebi insisted that there hasn’t been any “major political violence” although there have been some “small” incidents.

In Mpumalanga, very long queues were reported. In Gauteng the majority of stations opened on time and there were no incidents except for reports that some voters were turned away. It turned out that these voters weren’t South African citizens. There were also reports of unregistered voters turning up at stations who claimed they had received SMSes that said they were registered. Voting queues were also reported to be very long in Pretoria.

In the Western Cape, Northern Cape, Free State and the North West all stations opened on time and voting proceeded smoothly, with no major incidents reported.

Tlakula said the IEC expected voting at the 16 699 polling stations to be completed smoothly and that most people would cast their vote by 6pm on Wednesday. She said the IEC had received 25 000 calls in the first two hours of voting at the call centre, many from people enquiring where to vote.

Bam said that although polling stations would close at 9pm on Wednesday night, voters who were still in the queue or who were within the perimetres of the IEC boundary would still be able to vote.

Meanwhile, the fur was still flying between political parties, with the Inkatha Freedom Party’s deputy chairperson, Musa Zondi, saying he had witnessed “blatant abuses of IEC electoral law by the ANC [African National Congress] in uMlazi” — cold drinks being served to voters.

When visiting four polling stations at the BB section of uMlazi — Sithandiwe School, Bhekithemba Church, Mandlakazulu Hall and Bhekithemba School — the ANC was found to be serving cold drinks within the polling station buildings, while wearing ANC T-shirts and playing loud, pro-ANC music outside, a peeved Zondi said.

Several voters had complained to him about feeling intimidated.

He had raised this complaint formally with both the police and the presiding officers at the polling stations.

The IFP has now lodged a formal complaint with the IEC in KwaZulu-Natal.

Earlier on Wednesday, the ANC said that Democratic Alliance officials had placed DA logos in a number of identity books.

“The ANC is shocked by reports of further instances of DA stickers being placed in voters’ ID books,” ANC spokesperson Smuts Ngonyama said in a statement.

The DA accused the ANC on Wednesday of trying to use the state to discredit the DA on election day.

“I find it an extraordinary abuse of power that the director general of home affairs and the national commissioner of the South African Police Service can take time out of their undoubtedly busy schedules to address the issue of alleged technical infractions of the Identification Act,” DA federal chairperson James Selfe said.

“One would have thought that the commissioner of police in particular has better things to do with his time, such as attempting to apprehend murder, rapists and other violent criminals.”

Their involvement “amounts to an attempt by the ruling party to use the state to discredit” the DA on election day, and was therefore itself an assault on proper democratic practice. The DA would not be intimidated by “this kind of abuse”, Selfe said.