A holiday atmosphere took hold of strife-torn Khutsong early on Wednesday afternoon as residents opted for soccer instead of voting. Three games took place on the same green lung as a voting station where police were on guard.
”I think things will remain peaceful unless the cops provoke us,” said a spectator who would give his name only as ”Skuurkop”. Others thought the night would probably bring some toyi-toying.
On the other side of the township, a potentially violent situation was averted when a church delegation persuaded protesters to gather away from a polling station.
Earlier in the day, police had fired rubber bullets and used a water canon to put out burning tyres. They arrested 13 people.
At the scene, a woman approached Khutsong Ministers’ Fraternity chairperson Reverend Samson Ngqaqu, about a police armoured car parked on her property.
”When I asked them what it was doing there, they told me that they had come to protect me as I was their impimpi [informer].
”That was rubbish. What can I do now?” she pleaded.
Ngqaqu said it is life-threatening when residents of volatile townships found themselves in such situations.
Khutsong residents have protested, often violently, and vowed to boycott the elections over the incorporation of their municipality into the North West from Gauteng.
Only 100 voters had cast their ballots in Khutsong by noon on Wednesday, an Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) official said.
”We are concerned we won’t record a very high level of voting in Khutsong,” said Gauteng electoral officer Sy Mamabola.
Mamabola was, however, optimistic about voter turnout in the rest of the country.
”Voting is proceeding well … and we’re expecting a better turnout than [in] 2000,” he said.
By 9am, 63 000 people had voted in Gauteng.
‘Not only Khutsong’
Khutsong voters make up only a fraction of 1% of the country’s 21-million voters and should not be concentrated on to the detriment of the others, President Thabo Mbeki said on Wednesday.
”I understand why you ask about them, but let’s not concentrate only on them. From what I hear, they are voting in Khutsong,” he said during a visit to the IEC operation centre in Pretoria.
Mbeki had been told by the IEC that, with voting under way in all 19 000 voting stations, it was ”all systems go”.
”There is peace everywhere in the country. People are voting, even in areas where problems were expected.”
Ballot papers had to be flown in by helicopter to areas where heavy rains threatened to wash away voting.
Putfontein on the East Rand, Mabopane, north of Pretoria, and parts of KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape were affected by flooding, said the IEC.
During his walkabout at the centre, Mbeki asked why no journalists were in the media pool area. ”Why are the media not at their desks?”
”Because we are following you around, Mr President,” a chorus of hacks responded to general laughter.
Mbeki was shown the technology used to capture and collate the number of votes, and was told that the counting process should be finished by Saturday.
”Only Saturday?” he asked, adding: ”So I won’t know if I’m mayor until Saturday?”
Fans used the opportunity to get closer to their hero for a chat. A young boy asked the president for his autograph, and got it. An IEC official received a warm hug and greeting from a relaxed-looking Mbeki for her birthday.
”Oh, it is your birthday?” he asked. ”Shouldn’t we buy you a cake?”
”Oh, I feel so good now, I feel great,” the woman said afterwards.
The number of those who voted in the local government elections will only be known at the weekend, IEC chairperson Brigalia Bam said.
”We have received some statistics, but it is not available yet,” she told media. ”It will only be available after four days.”
She said in some areas where a low voter turnout had been expected due to rainy weather, large numbers in fact cast their votes.
”In the Eastern Cape, the voter turnout is very high, in KwaZulu-Natal it is high and also in the Free State,” Bam said.
Ballot counting would only start once voting stations had closed at 7pm on Wednesday. The counts are then sent to the municipal election office where they are checked and audited before being sent to the IEC in Pretoria. During this process, voter turnout will be calculated.
Orania
Residents of the Afrikaner community Orania, in the Northern Cape, had been voting enthusiastically throughout Wednesday, said an Orania Movement spokesperson.
Eleanor Lombard said the voting was in full swing by 2pm and taking place in a very convivial atmosphere. The conservative Afrikaner community, which supports the Freedom Front Plus, is voting only on district proportional representation. It is not participating in the vote for ward councillors or proportional representation at council level.
It was reported earlier that the community had decided not to contest the local government election, pending an agreement with the government on self-determination.
”Voting now for wards and for the council PR list would be like throwing in the towel,” Lombard said, but adding that it was not a boycott in a ”negative” sense.
She said internet voting for people overseas was going smoothly, referring to a private election for an eight-member representative council ”to negotiate with the ANC [African National Congress] in future”.
”Our uitwoners [people not living in Orania] are voting excellently. We have votes coming in from the United States, England, Canada, New Zealand, Australia, Germany and The Netherlands,” said Lombard.
Orania has been struggling for self-determination since 1994. It was amalgamated into a single municipality with Hopetown and Strydenburg before the last local government elections, but objected to the move. — Sapa