KwaZulu-Natal race still neck and neck

The ANC was leading on Thursday afternoon with 42,44% of the vote, followed by the IFP with 37,59%.

Provincial electoral officer Mawethu Mosery said 30% of the vote had been audited and released after 1pm. He said about 10 municipalities in the province had completed vote capturing.

About two million of the province’s 3,8-million voters had cast their ballots by the time the polls closed at 9pm on Wednesday.

This amounts to about 60% of the voters.

The counting of the votes has been slow in the province due to rigorous auditing of the electronic capturing of votes.

It has also taken a while for some stations in rural areas to get result slips to municipal electoral offices.

KwaZulu-Natal is traditionally an IFP stronghold but the ANC has made inroads into the province in recent years.

Allegations of political violence and vote rigging continued in the province on Thursday with the IFP threatening to denounce the poll as not free and fair.

Provincial party spokesperson Blessed Gwala said the IFP believed there would be high levels of vote rigging in KwaZulu-Natal. The provincial independent electoral commission said more than 100 complaints were lodged with it on Wednesday.

NNP blames ID for poor performance

The New National Party was pragmatic on Thursday about the close competition offered by the Independent Democrats in the election in which traditionally Afrikaner parties have lost votes.

”Clearly they are giving us a run for our money,” said the NNP’s Juli Kilian. She emphasised, however, that with still many votes still uncounted that the true positions were not yet certain. Kilian blamed a short-sighted electorate who were attracted to ”parties that played the opposition game” for the NNP’s poor performance so far.

”The minority are opting for the so-called strong opposition. We are concerned about this trend.”

She said this could eventually lead to the polarising of the electorate. She said the NNP believes it is far better to ensure harmony and work towards negotiation.

”It is not a very popular approach right now,” she said.

These sentiments were echoed by National Action (NA) leader Cassie Aucamp when he too accused his supporters of leaving him in the lurch.

”I am not happy with the way the results have gone,” he said on Thursday at the Independent Electoral Commission’s (IEC) election centre in Pretoria.

He believed many of his would-be voters eventually decided to support the ID.

”Unfortunately the NA is like the Free State rugby team — everybody’s second choice,” he said adding that unfortunately there was only one vote.

Aucamp said it was time to get ”back to the drawing board”.

”We have to get our message across because we still feel that our policies are the only ones that are going to see South Africa through the integration process,” he said.

Full results expected on Friday

The counting of ballots has been completed in almost all the provinces except for some areas of Gauteng, said the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) on Thursday. The IEC said that, at the present of rate of vote counting, full results were expected by midday on Friday.

”The people have voted and the counting of ballots in the third democratic elections has been successfully completed. This confirms that our electoral democracy has matured,” said IEC chairperson Dr Brigalia Bam.

So far 58% of both the national and provincial results have been captured and 39% have been audited.

Bam congratulated South African voters on their turnout and for waiting in the long voting queues with patience. She said the ”real stars” of this election had been the voters, and that they had responded to the call by registering and turning out for the elections in their droves.

Voting was only completed in the early hours of the morning at some voting stations, as many station in the rural areas battled to cope with the long queues.

Bam also commended political parties for way they have conducted themselves throughout the elections, saying that they had generally adhered to the IEC’s codes of conduct.

”These elections have characterised the spirit of cooperation between the IEC, political parties and, most importantly, the voters,” said Bam.

No final figures on voter turnout are yet available.

Police hail ‘very peaceful’ elections

Charmaine Muller, national spokesperson for security, told the Mail & Guardian Online on Thursday that indications have been so far that it has been a ”very peaceful election”. She said there has been no indications of violence at polls.

”There was nothing,” she commented.

On Wednesday there were bomb scares in three separate incidents at polling stations, but these proved to be hoaxes. Muller said the most significant action so far had been Wednesday’s arrest of 60 people involved in an illegal gathering in Lenasia, Gauteng.

”Voters have cooperated extremely well with the security services. There was almost no unlawful action from them, except for the illegal gathering in Lenasia.

”We were also well organised. We improved on our security plan and we started logistical planning with the IEC more than a year ago. South Africans have matured in the elections process and they have done this election in a responsible manner,” she said.

Two IEC officials face charges in KwaZulu-Natal

Two officers of the IEC in KwaZulu-Natal face criminal charges after two sealed ballot boxes were found dumped in separate places in the province, the IEC said on Thursday.

IEC chief electoral officer Pansy Tlakula said the ballot boxes were found at Ixopo and Msinga in KwaZulu-Natal and the matter was reported to the police.

However, she refused to elaborate on how the boxes were recovered and whether they would be counted.

”The police are still investigating the matter and I cannot comment further at this stage,” Tlakula told a press conference in Pretoria.

An area manager and a presiding officer are the two officials facing criminal charges in connection with the matter.

IEC spokesperson Rich Mkhondo said at the same briefing that the boxes seemed not to have been tampered with as they were both sealed.

However, it was unclear where the boxes came from before being dumped in the two places in KwaZulu-Natal, IEC deputy chairperson Norman du Plessis said.

Tribute paid to Judge Kriegler

Bam also paid tribute to Justice Johan Kriegler who was present at the Thursday-morning press announcement at the IEC’s Pretoria headquarters.

”The most significant thing is that we have learned from past mistakes, making us develop as a skilled unit. We are proud to say the IEC staff and many of our electoral staff that have been assisting us have passed the test,” said Bam. – Sapa, I-Net Bridge