from BAATSHEBA RAMASHALA in Polokwane
POLOKWANE, (CAJ News) – SOUTH Africa’s day one of special voting on Monday was marred by a number of challenges emanating from taxi strikes, service delivery protests and voting material not reaching polling stations on time, an electoral official has said.
Nevertheless, the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) deputy chief electoral officer, Masego Sheburi, assured the nation that the voting stations will on Tuesday (today) open early to make up for the delays.
He said the inconveniences on Monday left 107 of the 435 voting stations closed nationwide, but quickly stated the hiccups did not dampen the electorate as the voter turnout would increase Tuesday and Wednesday.
At the time of publishing on Monday, an estimated 201,794 voting station visits of special votes were processed in 22,626 service points.
“About 624,593 voters will be visited by 62,000 officials over the two days, from the Electoral Commission, accompanied by political party agents and observers, where they are available,” Sheburi said.
He called upon aspiring voters to ensure they bring with them their identity documents (IDs) to ensure they were not turned back without voting.
He assured the nation the votes cast to date are safe, and that they are kept in a secure and protected place.
“All special votes collected are stored securely overnight on May 27 and 28 and will be transported to voting stations on May 29, to be opened, reconciled, and added to the ordinary ballots cast before counting begins,” Sheburi said.
The IEC urged the nation to remain vigilant in the face of misinformation and phishing scams threats on social media and other digital platforms.
Analysts believe the fierce contest will be among the ruling African National Congress (ANC), Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), the Democratic Alliance (DA) and the newly formed but ANC breakaway uMkhonto we Sizwe (MK).
– CAJ News