Johnathan Paoli
THE second day of the final voter registration weekend, went off to a smooth start much better than the first day on Saturday, which was marred by disruptions at several voter registration centres by communities disgruntled about service delivery failures.
The Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) said on Sunday that most provinces were able to operate without significant problems, apart from the Eastern Cape.
Seventeen voting stations in the Eastern Cape were affected the previous day by community protests and five didn’t open. But on Sunday they opened from 10am.
The commission reported that in Mpumalanga, where more than a dozen voting stations were affected by various challenges on Saturday, things were running smoothly on Sunday.
And in Gauteng, where there were delays in opening at least two centres on Saturday, they again said that Sunday was off to a good start without any incidents..
Provincial chairperson Panyaza Lesufi reminded eligible citizens that it remained crucial that residents showed up at the polls, and said that a watershed moment awaited the country in this year’s general elections as political parties compete for Gauteng, the biggest province electorally, and the most significant province economically.
Speaking at a registration campaign trail in Soweto on Saturday, Lesufi said the voter turnout in the province would likely impact the national election outcome.
“Twenty-five percent of them come from Gauteng, so we’re quite excited. That is how democracy functions and those that accept democracy must accept the outcomes of that democracy. So, I want to thank everybody who exercised their right to register,” Lesufi said.
KwaZulu-Natal and Limpopo, too, with the former being, according to the latest IEC statistics, the second-largest province that contributes 20% of the country’s votes after Gauteng.
The EFF have focused on the province, following their performance in the 2019 elections, with CIC Julius Malema spearheading a drive across the province.
Speaking outside a voting station in Verulam, north of Durban, the EFF president said his party was making inroads into the province and that the province was the last in the three important provinces, namely Gauteng, KZN and Western Cape, to have stopped supporting the ruling party.
Limpopo provincial electoral officer Nkaro Mateta said that the commission was hopeful that the youth, in particular, would come out in their numbers.
“We are quite happy – all our stations are now opened and fully functional. We are just hopeful that today we’ll get the big numbers. Particularly those who are registering for the first time. We have a big target and we are trying to chase our target,” Mateta said.
The DA, the official opposition party has however, expressed concern over allegations of violence at a voting station just prior and during the registration weekend.
DA Gauteng premier candidate Solly Msimanga said that one incident, involving a cash-in- transit heist, and the other, an act of intimidation, allegedly involving a firearm outside a voting station in Vosloorus was confirmed by the IEC representative at the voting station.
The premier candidate said that it was concerned over the instability and violence that hampered the registration drives, thus threatening the people’s democratic rights.
Msimanga said that the allegations were not only deeply concerning bearing the nature of gun violence, but become even more problematic when taking into account the illegality and in contravention of the Electoral Code of Conduct to which all registered parties in the country were bound.
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