Elections: #ThumbsUp Mzantsi

MOST of the province’s 3.2 million registered voters turned out in South Africa’s fifth democratic elections yesterday.

Voting started smoothly and on time at almost all of the 4615 voting stations, although there were hiccups here and there, and the Electoral Commission said two officials resigned after infractions.

Provincial electoral officer Thamsanqa Mraji said roads to voting stations in the hotspot of Sterkspruit had been barricaded to prevent people from voting and some stations had been illegally locked. Two electoral officers lost their jobs due to irregularities.

Teams of accredited African Union and Southern African Development Community observers were in various spots.

At Bumbane Great Place villagers said they heeded AbaThembu King Buyelekhaya Dalindyebo’s call to vote DA instead of ANC.

Wahiya Sonteya, 73, walked on crutches for a kilometre in scorching heat to vote at the royal house.

“We are with the king ... sticking to his decision. He is the one who went all over campaigning for us. He told us that he has changed from the old party to the DA.

“This is our way of life, we listen to the king’s decree, you cannot break that law,” he said.

Dispatch reporters across the province reported mostly a smooth poll, but some ANC officials, campaigning inside or too close to polling stations in contravention of the Electoral Act, raised the ire of voters and agents from rival parties.

At some voting stations ANC officials handed out party T-shirts and stickers, with one Mthatha voter complaining of “unpalatable” campaigning. Voters at that station were given three-page documents saying the multimillion-rand upgrades to President Jacob Zuma’s homestead were necessary.

ANC provincial elections coordinator Mlibo Qoboshiyane defended his party’s actions. “The only thing we are not allowed to do is campaign inside voting stations. Electoral laws allow political activities 500m from voting stations that don’t interfere with other voters.”

Provincial chair Phumulo Masualle said the ANC was not prevented by the Electoral Act from handing out T-shirts at voting stations. But following agreement between all parties yesterday, the IEC announced that the practice of distributing T-shirts would stop.

At a Sterkspruit voting station ANC members were seen ticking names off the voters roll, then giving the voters ANC T-shirts.

At Ekuzoleni, also in Sterkspruit voting started 30 minutes late after EFF party agent Xolile Mashaba found ballot boxes filled with ballot papers, but these turned out to be the legitimate special votes.

Electoral officials, backed by police and state officials, had earlier secured the keys for all voting stations in the town. IEC spokesperson Pearl Ngoza said this was after the keys to Majuba JSS in Ward 6 were confiscated by the school governing council. Ngoza added a deputy presiding officer at Waterfall in Mthatha resigned after she was found to have allowed 42 voters to vote early in the week although they were not special voters.

In Mbhashe Municipality, a presiding officer resigned after party agents saw her accepting a party T-shirt. The agents refused to work with her and she opted to resign.

At the East London City Hall the ANC set up a branded stall a mere 30 steps from the voting station.

At Walter Sisulu University’s Potsdam campus, an ANC table inside the voting yard causing an outcry from PAC Buffalo City metro councillor Jerome Mdyolo.

But an IEC official said the ANC was not breaking any rules.

In some of the 12 voting stations in Buffalo City’s historically coloured areas, rival parties were unimpressed by the ANC’s branded tables, party T-shirts close to voting stations and giving away of T-shirts and other insignia.

ANC agents said they were assisting voters to verify where they had registered to avoid them being turned away inside the wrong station, although the IEC confirmed that citizens could vote anywhere in the province they registered in.

At Buffalo Park’s Billy Francis Hall, Agang SA’s Dinah Grop objected to an ANC table and branding being set up too close to the voting station.

Qoboshiyane complained that some people in party T-shirts were turned away by some presiding officers. “The laws don’t prohibit people from wearing party colours when voting,” he said.