The Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC), held a media briefing on Wednesday afternoon to update the public regarding Election Day. Deputy CEO Electoral Operations, Masego Sheburi, took the lead in updating the public at the National Operations Result Centre.
Sheburi started off the briefing stating that some voting stations did not open on time: “Unfortunately there were a number of voting stations which opened late, there were delays in our material handling and there were a number of protests”. People already started queuing before 7AM causing lines at voting stations before the opening. According to Sheburi, most delayed voting stations were opened within the first hour. There were also some delays of voting supplies in certain areas, but those have since been resolved.
There have been some issues with the Voter Management Devices (VMD), but Sheburi says this should not affect the election process: “We have issued instructions that voting should continue using the manual voting roll”. Shebri added: “The VMD is not a requirement in law for the voting process, it is an addition and an additional safeguard”.
Regarding voters not being on the voters roll, Sheburi said that this has likely to do with these voters being approved for Special Votes or section 24a. “The voters rolls that we have, the VMD and the voters roll that is printed on hardcopy paper at the voting station, are identical. The only difference is that one is electronic and the other is on hard copy paper. So it is impossible for one to appear on one and not on the other”.
Sheburi expresses that presiding officers stationed at the voting station have been thoroughly trained over a course of 4 days. Party agents at voting stations may raise objections at any time.
IEC cannot say how many people have voted so far, but Sheburi said that they are hoping for a turnout over 66%.
Done by: Veerle Kroon
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